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WADSWORTH 



OR 



The Charter Oak 



W. H. GOCHER 



"The traditions of a nation are part of its existence." 

— Disraeli 



Hartford, Conn. 

Published by W. H. GOCHER 

1904 



;04 



9 //to j 

COPY B I 



Copyright, igo4 

by 

William Henry Gocher. 



Press or WINN & JUDSON 

CLEVELAND 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE , 

The Wyllys Mansion and The Charter Oak. Frontispiece 

The Wadsworth Inn 41 '^ 

'Wadsworths from 1595 to 1904 53 

Oliver Cromwell 75 

The Charter Oak in 1830 109 

Hugh Peters 137'^ 

William Pendrell 143- 

The Royal Oak of Boscobel 151 ^ 

Jane Lane 159 

Charles II 171 

John Winthrop 205 

Charles II (From the Charter) 217 

Edward Montague, First Earl of Sandwich . . . 237 

Connecticut Governors 259 

Sir Edmund Andros 275 " 

The Charter Oak in 1847 291 

James II 299 

Moses Butler's Tavern 311 

The Wadsworth Arms 329 

The Charter Oak in 1856 335 ' 

Weatogue Brook Falls 345 

Imlay's Bridge 361 

Imlay's Mill 373 

The I^ast Scene 387 



INDEX 

Introduction — pagk 

Hartford 11 

Constitution of 1638-9 18 

Thomas Hooker, Preacher 27 

Roger Ivudlow, Lawyer 31 

John Haynes, Colonizer 36 

Memories — 

William Wadsworth 51 

Cromwell 65 

The Regicides 80 

The Charter Oak 103 

The Royal Oak 139 

The Patent, Charter and Deed 179 

Hiding the Charter 251 

The Man 357 

The Tree 385 



This Book is Dedicated to 

THE WOODEN NUTMEG 

The Symbol of the Land of Steady Habits 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 



HARTFORD 



Hartford is an old town as dates run in Amer- 
ica. The first sod was turned in 1636, sixteen 
years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth and 
six years after the Puritans located in the vicinity 
of what is now known as Boston. On May 31 
of that year the members of the Rev. Thomas 
Hooker's church at Newtown, now known as 
Cambridge, having disposed of their homes in the 
colony of Massachusetts Bay, turned their faces 
towards the Connecticut valley. After a journey 
of two weeks, which can now be made almost in 
as many hours, this band of pioneers crossed the 
Connecticut River and located on the land that 
was subsequently known as Hartford. 

So far as can be learned, all of the original pro- 
prietors of Hartford, as well as those of Windsor 
and Wethersfield, were born in England and had 
emigrated on account of their religious views 
differing from those Avhich were being forced on 
the people by Charles I. through Laud. Thomas 
Hooker, the leader of the company, had felt the 



12 Wadsworth 

weight of the latter's displeasure. Being marked 
as a Non-Conformist, he was in 1629 silenced at 
Chelmsford and in 1630 forced to sail for Holland 
to escape a summons to appear before the High 
Commission Court. The ill-fated Charles Stuart 
was at the time carrying out the threat which his 
father made at Hampton Court when he told the 
Puritan divines that he would make them con- 
form or he would harry them out of the land, or 
worse. At the time it sounded like an idle boast, 
but when they found that King James was de- 
termined to enforce "one doctrine, one discipline, 
one religion, in substance and ceremony," many 
well to do people, as well as artisans and agri- 
culturalists, who considered their spiritual wel- 
fare of more moment than their physical com- 
forts, fled to Holland and later to America. 

There were no drones among those who gave 
up home comforts for faith. All of them were 
workers and thinkers whose minds had absorbed 
what could be gathered from the few books 
within the reach of the people at that period and 
the lectures which the Puritans had established 
in all of their churches. The Bible, being the 
most accessible, was read and discussed in every 
home, and with the awakening of religious lib- 
erty there came in turn that germ of civil liberty 
which was destined to blaze forth on the virgin 



Introduction 13 

soil of America. Over a century and a half was 
to roll by, however, before anyone was bold 
enough to declare that "all men are created 
equal," and that mind, not birth, is the foundation 
of greatness, but the hour was at hand for it 
to be announced "that the foundation of authority 
was based upon the consent of the people." That 
declaration was made in 1638 in Hartford, the 
cradle of democracy, by Thomas Hooker, and 
from it and other thoughts leading up to it came 
the spirit of opposition which eventually led to 
the severing of the ties that bound the colonies to 
the mother country.^ 

The first settlement in Hartford extended from 
what is now known as the South Green to Sen- 
tinel Hill, where Morgan Street leaves Main 
Street, the majority of the houses being along 
what is now known as Front, Main and Trumbull 
Streets, while others followed the banks of the 
Little River to the foot of Lord's, now known as 
Asylum Hill. Cut ofif from communication with 
the outside world except by trails through the 
forest or by the river, these English subjects on 
American soil began to think and act for them- 

^ The birthplace of American democracy is Hartford. 
Government "of the people, by the people, and for the 
people" first took shape in Connecticut. The American 
form of commonwealth originated here. — Johnson's 
Connecticut. 



14 Wadsworth 

selves. Untrammeled by the restraints of feudal 
tenure which still oppressed all of the working 
plasses in the old country, the founders of Hart- 
ford, Windsor and Wethersfield devised a system 
of their own and began to make history, in a 
humble manner it is true, but on a plan which 
in time attracted the attention of the world. 
Without a charter to establish their rights to the 
land upon which they built their homes or a basis 
for civil authority, they went to the other extreme 
and placed the foundation of authority in the 
people and upon that cornerstone adopted a con- 
stitution which created a government.^ Firm in 
their faith, these men and those who were at a 
later date associated with them, made self-reliant 
and assertive by adversity and contentions with 
the neighboring colonies, at a later date drafted 
a charter which received royal sanction and under 
which Connecticut conducted its government 

* It was the first written constitution known to his- 
tory that created a government. — Fiske. 

The whole constitution was that of an independent 
state. It continued in force, with very little alteration, 
a hundred and eight years. — Palfry's History of New 
England. 

Alone of the thirteen colonies, Connecticut entered 
into the War of the Revolution with her governor and 
council at her head under the constitution of her royal 
charter. — Leonard Wolsey Bacon. 



Infroductian 15 

until 1818, and many features of which are still 
reflected in its constitution.^ 

Hinman states that there never was any com- 
munication between the Connecticut colony and 
the English government from the date of settle- 
ment until after John Winthrop, Jr., appeared at 
Whitehall in 1662 and procured the Charter from 
Charles II. Prior to that time the founders of 
the three river towns and the others which were 
established under orders from the General Court 
based their claims to the soil by purchase from 
the Indians and an agreement with George Fen- 
wick, who sold them the Saybrook fort and the 
land on the river. A promise that Fenwick failed 
to keep also went with the transfer, but in time 
it was used not only as a means of recovering a 
portion of the money spent in the river purchase, 
but also in pressing the colony's claim for a char- 
ter at Whitehall, the petition or one of the peti- 
tions presented by Winthrop to King Charles II 
being not for a new charter, which might have 
been weakened by rights already granted by the 
crown, but for a renewal of the Warwick patent, 

* From this seed sprang the constitution of Connec- 
ticut, first in the series of written American constitu- 
tions framed by the people for the people. * * * 
Nearly two centuries have elapsed * * * 5^ the 
people of Connecticut have found no reason to deviate 
from the government established by their fathers. — 
Bancroft's History of United States. 



16 Wadsworth 

then held by Lord Say and Seal, the sole surviv- 
ing patentee, and who was heartily in sympathy 
with the proposed measure, although he did not 
live to see the charter pass the seals. All of this 
is, or in time will be, set forth in the pages of 
State histories, a number of changes being made 
necessary on account of recent discoveries in cor- 
respondence preserved in the Bodleian library, 
while considerable space is devoted to the claims 
of the Dutch and the House of Hope, a trading 
post which was, according to Smith's History of 
Mew York, established in 1623, — possibly a typo- 
graphical error — on what is now known as Dutch 
Point. 

The members of Hooker's colony ignored the 
claims of the New Amsterdam traders and sur- 
rounded their low lying acres on the river front 
with a thriving colony. The feeling between 
them was not very friendly and on one or two 
occasions they came to blows, while Peter Stuy- 
vesant at a later date travelled from New Am- 
sterdam (New York) to Hartford to assist his 
countrymen in retaining their foothold on the 
Connecticut. Finding that none of his claims 
would be allowed, the peppery governor returned 
to Manhattan, leaving the disposal of his coun- 
trymen's affairs in the hands of two Englishmen. 
They did not make a very favorable report. The 



Introduction 17 

Dutch were, however, permitted to remain with- 
in bounds until 1653, when England and Holland 
were at war. In that year Captain John Under- 
hill, a soldier of fortune, bearing a commission 
from the Providence Plantations, marched to 
Hartford and seized the House of Hope for Eng- 
land. The General Court of Connecticut then 
sequestered the Dutch property in Hartford and 
when peace was declared the traders abandoned 
the place and returned to New Amsterdam. All 
that now remains to revive memories of the 
first settlers in Hartford is the name Dutch Point 
and the names of a few streets in that section of 
the city. 

On January 14, 1638-9, the inhabitants and resi- 
dents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield 
assembled in the meeting house in Hartford, the 
building being located on what is now known as 
the Public Square and adopted what is known as 
the Fundamental Orders or "Constitution of 
1638-9." It is surmised, and that is the strongest 
word that can be used, that this constitution was 
the joint work of Thomas Hooker, whose teach- 
ings of civil liberty are reflected in it, Roger Lud- 
low, a skillful lawyer who held office in Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut and Ireland, and John 
Haynes, who served as Governor of Massachu- 
setts before he joined the colony of Connecticut, 



18 Wadsworth 

where like honors were conferred upon him. The 
following is a copy of the constitution as adopted : 

CONSTITUTION OF 1638-9. 



"Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Almighty God, 
by the wise disposition of His divine providence, so to 
order and dispose of things, that we the inhabitants 
and residents of Windsor, Hartford and Weathersfield, 
are now cohabiting, and dwelling in and uppon the river 
of Conneticutt, and the lands thereunto adjoining, and 
well knowing when a people are gathered together, the 
word of God requires, that to meinteine the peace and 
union of such a people, there should bee an orderly 
and decent governement established according to God, 
to order and dispose of the affaires of the people at all 
seasons, as occasion shall require; doe therefore asso- 
ciate and conjoine ourselves to bee as one publique 
STATE or COMMONWEALTH; and doe for our- 
selves and our successors, and such as shall bee ad- 
joined to us at any time hereafter, enter into combina- 
tion and confederation together, to meinteine and pre- 
serve the libberty and purity of the Gospell of our 
Lord Jesus, which we now profess, as also the disci- 
pline of the churches, which, according to the truth of 
the said Gospell, is now practiced amongst us; as allso 
in our civill affaires to be guided and governed accord- 
ing to such lawes, rules, orders, and decrees, as shall 
bee made, ordered, and decreed, as followeth: 

I. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed. That there 
shall bee yearly two Generall Assembly's or Courts, 
the one the second Thursday in Aprill, the other the 
second Thursday in September following: The first 



Inirodiiction 19 

shall bee called the Courte of Election, wherein shall 
be yearely chosen, from time to time, so many magis- 
trates and other publique officers, as shall bee found 
requisite, whereof one to be chosen Governor for the 
yeare ensuing, and untill another bee chosen, and no 
other magistrate to bee chosen for more then one 
yeare; provided always, there bee six chosen besides 
the Governor, which being chosen and sworne accord- 
ing to an oath recorded for that purpose, shall have 
power to administer justice according to the lawes here 
established, and for want thereof, according to the rule 
of the word of God; which choyce shall bee made by 
all that are admitted Freemen, and have taken the 
oath of fidelity, and do cohabit within this jurissdiction, 
having beene admitted inhabitants by the major parte 
of the town where they live or the major parte of such 
as shall bee then present. 

2. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed. That the 
Election of the aforesaid magistrate shall bee on this 
manner; every person present and qualified for 
choyce, shall bring in (to the persons deputed to re- 
ceive them) one single paper, with the name of him 
written in it whom he desires to have Governor, and 
hee that hath the greatest number of papers shall bee 
Governor for that yeare: And the rest of the Magis- 
trates or publique officer, to be chosen in this manner; 
the Secretary for the time being, shall first read the 
names of all that are to bee put to choyce, and then 
shall severally nominate them distinctly, and every 
one that would have the person nominated to bee 
chosen, shall bring in one single paper written uppon, 
and hee that would not have him chosen, shall bring 
in a blanke, and every one that hath more written pa- 



20 Wadsworth 

pers than blanks, shall be a magistrate for that yeare, 
which papers shall bee received and told by one or 
more that shall bee then chosen, by the Courte, and 
sworn to bee faithfull therein; but in case there 
should not bee six persons as aforesaid, besides the 
Governor, out of those which are nominated, then hee 
or they which have the most written papers, shall bee a 
Magistrate or Magistrates for the ensuing yeare, to 
make up the aforesaid number. 

3. It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed. That the 
Secretary shall not nominate any person, nor shall any 
person bee chosen newly into the Magistracy, which 
was not propounded in some General Courte before, 
to bee nominated the next election: And to that end, 
it shall be lawfull for each of the Townes aforesaid, 
by theire Deputies, to nominate any two whoe they con- 
ceive fitt to be put to election, and the Courte may 
add so many more as they judge requisite. 

4. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, That no 
person bee chosen Governor above once in two years, 
and that the Governor bee always a member of some 
approved congregation, and formerly of the magis- 
tracy, within this Jurissdiction, and all the Magistrates, 
fJreemen of this Commonwealth; and that no Magis- 
trate or other publique Officer, shall execute any parte 
of his or theire office before they are severally sworne, 
which shall bee done in the face of the Courte, if they 
bee present, and in case of absence, by some deputed 
for that purpose. 

5. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed. That to 
the aforesaid Courte of Election, the severall Townes 
shall send theire Deputyes, and when the Elections are 
ended they may proceed in any publique service, as at 



Introduction 21 

other Courtes; allso, the other Generall Courte in Sep- 
tember, shall bee for making of lawes and any other 
publique occassion, which concerns the good of the 
Commonwealth. 

6. It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, That the 
Governor shall, either by himselfe or by the Secretary, 
send out summons to the Constables of every Towne, 
for the calling of these two standing Courts, one month 
at least before theire severall times; And allso, if the 
Governor and the greatest parte of the magistrates see 
cause, uppon any speciall occasion, to call a Generall 
Courte, they may give order to the Secretary so to doe, 
within fourteene dayes warning, and if urgent necessity 
so require, upon a shorter notice, giving sufficient 
grounds for it, to the Deputys, when they meete, or 
else, bee questioned for the same; and if the Governor 
and major parte of the Magistrates, shall either neg- 
lect or refuse, to call the two Generall standing Courts, 
or either of them; as allso, at other times, when the 
occassions of the Commonwealth require; the Freemen 
thereof, or the major parte of them, shall petition to 
them so to doe, if then it bee either denied or neg- 
lected, the said Freemen or the major parte of them, 
shall have power to give order to the Constables of the 
severall Townes to doe the same, and so many meete 
together and choose to themselves a moderator, and 
may proceed to doe any act of power which any other 
Generall Courte may. 

7. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed. That after 
there are warrants given out for any of the said Gen- 
erall Courts, the Constable or Constables of each 
Towne shall forthwith give notice distinctly to the in- 
habitants of the same, in some publique Assembly, or 



22 Wadsworth 

by going or sending from howse to howse, that at a 
place and time, by him or them limited and sett, they 
meete and assemble themselves together, to elect and 
chose certaine Deputies to bee at the Generall Courte 
then following, to agitate the affaires of the Common- 
wealth; which said Deputies, shall bee chosen by all 
that are admitted inhabitants in the severall towns 
and have taken the oath of fidelity: provided, that none 
bee chosen a Deputye for any Generall Courte which 
is not a Freeman of this Commonwealth: The afore- 
said Deputyes shall bee chosen in manner following: 
Every person that is present and qualified as before 
expressed, shall bring the names of such written in 
severall papers, as they desire to have chosen, for that 
employment; and these three or foure, more or less, 
being the number agreed on to be chosen, for that 
time, that have greatest number of papers written for 
them, shall bee Deputyes for that Courte; whose 
names shall be indorsed on the backside of the war- 
rant and returned into the Courte, with the Constable 
or Constables hand to the same. 

8. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, That 
Wyndsor, Hartford and Weathersfield, shall have pow- 
er, each Towne, to send foure of theire Freemen as 
theire Deputyes, to every Generall Courte, and what- 
soever other Townes shall bee hereafter added to this 
Jurisdiction, they shall send so many Deputyes, as the 
Courte shall judge meete: a reasonable proportion to 
the number of Freemen, that are in the said Towns, 
being to bee attended therein; which Deputys shall 
have the power of the whole Towne, to give theire 
voates and allowance to all such lawes and orders, as 
may bee for the publique good, and unto which the 



Introduction 23 

said Towns are to bee bound; And it is allso ordered, 
that if any Deputyes shall be absent uppon such occas- 
sions, as Governor for the time being, shall approve of, 
or by the Providence of God, shall decease this life 
within the adjournment of any Courte, that it shall bee 
at the libertye of the Governor to send forth a war- 
rant, in such case, for supply thereof uppon reasonable 
warning. 

9. It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, That the 
Deputyes thus chosen, shall have power and liberty, to 
appoint a time and place of meeting together, before 
any Generall Courte, to advise and consulte of all such 
thinges as may concerne the good of the publique; as 
allso to examine theire owne Elections, whether ac- 
cording to the order; and if they or the greatest parte 
of them, finde any election to be illegall, they may se- 
clude such for present, from theire meetinge, and re- 
turne the same and theire reasons to the Courte; and 
if it proove true, the Courte may fyne the party or 
partyes so intruding, and the Towne if they see cause, 
and give out a warrant to goe to a new election in a 
legal] way, either in parte or in whole. Allso the said 
Deputyes shall have power to fyne any that shall bee 
disorderly at theire meeting, or for not coming in due 
time or place, according to appointment, and they may 
returne the said fyne into the Courte, if it bee refused 
to bee paid, and the Treasurer to take notice of it, and 
to estreite or levye as hee doth other fynes. 

10. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed. That every 
generall Courte (except such as through neglect of the 
Governor and the greatest parte of Magistrates, the 
Freemen themselves doe call,) shall consiste of the 
Governor or some one chosen to moderate the Courte, 



24 Wadswofth 

and foure other Magistrates at least, with the major 
parte of the Deputyes of the several Towns legally- 
chosen, and in case the Freemen or the major parte 
of them, through neglect or refusall of the Governor 
and major parte of the Magistrates, shall call a Courte, 
it shall consiste of the major parte of Freemen, that 
are present, or theire Deputyes, with a moderator 
chosen by them, in which said Generall Courts, shall 
consiste the Supreme powere of the Commonwealth, 
and they onely shall have power to make lawes and 
repeale them, to graunt levyes, to admitt of Freemen, 
dispose of lands undisposed of, to severall Towns or 
persons; and allso shall have power to call either 
Courte or Magistrate, or any other person whatsoever 
into question, for any misdemeanor, and may for such 
cause, displace, or deale otherwise, according to the 
nature of the offence; and allso may deale in any other 
matter that concerns the good of this Commonwealth, 
except election of Magistrates, which shall bee done by 
the whole body of Freemen; in which Courts the Gov- 
ernor or Moderator shall have the power to order the 
Courte, to give libbertye of Speech, and silence un- 
reasonable and disorderly speaking, to put all things 
to voate, and in case the voate bee equall, to have the 
casting voice: But none of these courts shall be ad- 
journed or dissolved without the consent of the major 
parte of the Courte. Provided, notwithstanding, that 
the Governor or Deputy Governor, with two Magis- 
trates shall have power to keepe a Particular Courte 
according to the lawes established; And in case the 
Governor or Deputy Governor bee absent, or some way 
or other incapable either to sitt or to bee present; if 
three Magistrates meete and chuse one of themselves 
to bee a Moderator, they may keepe a Particular 



Introduction 25 

Courte, which to all ends and purposes shall bee 
deemed as legall as though the Governor or Deputy 
did sitt in Courte. 

11. It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed. That 
when any Generall Courte, upon the occassions of the 
Commonwealth, have agreed uppon any summ or 
summs of monye, to be levyed uppon the severall 
Townes within this Jurissdiction, that a Committee bee 
chosen, to sett out and appoint what shall bee the pro- 
portion of every Towne to pay of the said levye; Pro- 
vided the Comittee bee made up of an equall number 
out of each Towne. 

The eleven preceding sections were voted or en- 
acted at a General Court, held January 14th, 
1638-9, and the following provision was added at 
the revision in 1650: 

Forasmuch as the free fruition of such libberties, 
immunities, priviledges, as humanity, civility, and 
Christianity call for, as due to every man in his place 
and proportion, without impeachment and infringe- 
ment, hath ever beene and ever will bee the tranquility 
and stability of Churches and Commonwealths; and the 
denyall or deprivall thereof, the disturbance, if not 
ruine of both: 

12. It is thereof ordered by this Courte, and au- 
thority thereof, That no man's life shall bee taken away; 
no man's honor or good name shall be stained; no 
man's person shall bee arrested, restreined, bannished, 
dismembred, nor any way punished; no man shall be 
deprived of his wife or children; no man's goods or es- 
tate shall bee taken away from him nor any ways in- 
dammaged, under colour of law, or countenance of 



26 Wadsworth 

authority; unless it bee by the vertue or equity of some 
express law of the Country warranting the same, es- 
tablished by a Generall Courte and sufficiently pub- 
lished, or in case of the defect of a law, in any per- 
ticular case, by the word of God." 

This was the first step towards a government 
by the people under a written constitution/ and 
if this instrument was not the joint production 
of Thomas Hooker, John Haynes and Roger 
Ludlow, many authorities attributing it to the 
last named on account of his legal training,^ it 
reflected their sentiments, and they were also 
instrumental in having it presented and adopted 
by the inhabitants of the three river towns. 

'The eleven fundamental orders of Connecticut, 
with their preamble, presents the first examples in his- 
tory of a written constitution. — Greene's History of 
English People. 

This constitution defined the laws, rules and regula- 
tions of a government created by the people. — Tarbox's 
Organization of Civil Government. 

The oldest truly political constitution in America is 
the instrument called the Fundamental Orders of Con- 
necticut passed by the inhabitants of Windsor, Hart- 
ford and Wethersfield in 1638-9. — Bryce's American 
Commonwealth. 

This remarkable document gave to Connecticut the 
pre-eminent place in constitutional history.* * * It 
was the constitution of an independent state, a distinct 
organic law constituting a government and defining its 
powers. — Brinley in Reprint Laws of 1673. 

*"I cannot help regarding it his (Ludlow's) work. 
The phraseology is his; it breathes his spirit." — Hollis- 
ter's History of Connecticut. 



Introduction 27 

THOMAS HOOKER. Preacher 



Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford, was 
born in 1586, at Marfield in the county of Leices- 
ter, England. Elizabeth, the last of the Tudor 
sovereigns, was then on the throne, her death 
being recorded while the future divine was attend- 
ing school at Market Bosworth, which was about 
twenty-five miles from his native place and close 
to Bosworth Field where Henry, Earl of Rich- 
mond, defeated and killed Richard HI. When 
Thomas Hooker arrived at Cambridge University 
in 1604, the sovereignty of England and Scotland 
was vested in the person of James I, son of Mary 
Queen of Scots. He entered Queen's College as 
a sizar, but was subsequently transferred to 
Emanuel, where he remained until i5i8. During 
Hooker's residence Peter Bulkeley, John Cotton, 
John Wilson, Francis Higginson, Nathaniel 
Ward and several others who were in one way or 
another associated with him in his subsequent 
career in New England, were in Cambridge and 
were in all probability numbered among his 
acquaintances. 

Thomas Hooker's ministry began with a rector- 
ship at Esher in Surrey. He remained there until 
1626, when an invitation to act as lecturer at 
Chelmsford in Essex was accepted. Being 



28 Wadsworfh 

silenced for non-conformity in 1629, he retired 
to Little Braddock, where he kept a school, one 
of his assistants being John Elliot, who was after- 
wards known in America as the Apostle to the 
Indians. Archbishop Laud, however, did not for- 
get the Chelmsford lecturer and on July 10, 1630, 
Thomas Hooker was cited to appear before the 
High Commission Court. On the advice of 
friends he fled to Holland where he remained un- 
til 1633, when upon the invitation of a number of 
the members of his former congregation, who 
had emigrated and located at Newtown, Massa- 
chusetts, Thomas Hooker sailed with two hun- 
dred others for America in the Grilfen, John 
Haynes, Samuel Stone and John Cotton were in 
the same vessel, which was two months making 
the voyage. Cotton located in Boston, while 
Hooker and Stone passed on to their friends at 
Newtown. Their arrival was a source of pro- 
found rejoicing, the people saying that "their 
great necessities were now supplied, for they had 
Cotton for their clothing. Hooker for their fish- 
ing and Stone for their building." 

During the early days of June, 1636, the inhabi- 
tants of Newtown followed their leader through 
the forest to the present site of Hartford. For a 
year the government of the colony was conducted 
under an order of the Massachusetts General 



Introduction 29 

Court, Agawam (Spring-field) being included 
with Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield. In 
1637 magistrates appointed by the people took 
charge of the affairs of the colony and they re- 
mained in control until the Constitution of 1638-9 
was adopted. In the interval Thomas Hooker, 
firm in the belief that in public measures all of 
the people could not go wrong, began to promul- 
gate the doctrine which was in time reflected in 
the "Fundamental Orders."^ That he spoke 
plainly and to the point is evidenced by the fol- 
lowing notes taken from a lecture delivered be- 
fore the General Court May 31, 1638. 

Doctrine: That the choice of the public magistrate 
belongs unto the people. 
They who have the power to appoint of- 
ficers and magistrates, it is in their pow- 
er, also, to set the bounds and limitations 
of the power and place unto which they 
have called them. 

'It is on the banks of the Connecticut, under the 
mighty preaching of Thomas Hooker and in the con- 
stitution to which he gave life, if not form, that we 
draw the first breath of that atmosphere which is now 
so familiar to us. — Johnson's Connecticut. 

It marked the beginning of American democracy, 
of which Thomas Hooker deserves, more than any oth- 
er man, to be called the father. — Fiske's Beginning of 
New England. 

The man who first visioned and did much to make 
possible our American democracy. — Elliott's History of 
New England. 



30 Wadsworth 

Reasons: Because the foundation of authority is 
laid in the free consent of the people. 
Because by a free choice, the hearts of the 
people will be more inclined to the love 
of the persons chosen and more ready to 
yield obedience. 

The above are the first recorded utterances on 
the broad doctrine of democracy in America. 
They were taken down in short hand in a note 
book now in the possession of the Connecticut 
Historical Society, by Henry Walcott of Windsor 
and deciphered by J. Hammond Trumbull, 

At this date it is difficult to imagine the su- 
preme courage required to enunciate such ideas 
in 1638 when Charles I was ruling England with- 
out a Parliament, and although he did not know 
it, plunging headlong into a sea of troubles which 
cost him a throne and his head. But at the same 
time it must be remembered that they were pre- 
sented by a man to men who had faced death 
Jn every form in the wilderness, and men inured 
to danger have little hesitation in expressing their 
opinions. The fear of punishment was the last 
thought that came to them. It was enough if 
they believed, and had it come to an issue be- 
tween them and Laud, the Archbishop's "You 
shall not" would have been answered "We shall." 

During the balance of his life Thomas Hooker 
took an active interest in the civil as well as the 



Introduction 31 

religious affairs of Connecticut and assisted Gov- 
ernor Haynes in bringing about the confederation 
of the colonies of New England. He died in 
Hartford in 1647 and was buried in the First 
Church burying ground, corner of Main and Gold 
Streets. 



ROGER LUDLOW. Lawyer 



Roger Ludlow stands second only to Hooker in 
founding the colony of Connecticut and second 
only to him from the fact that the illustrious 
divine in a measure inaugurated the movement 
which gave Ludlow an opportunity to demon- 
strate his abilities. At a later date Hooker also 
taught the democratic principles that were 
subsequently reflected in the constitution, which 
with the knowledge of the work that Ludlow 
did for the colony cannot be attributed to any 
other hand. Hooker inspired and Ludlow wrote 
the constitution.^ 

* The document bears intrinsic evidence of a legal 
skill and phraseology which, when compared with Lud- 
low's Code of 1650, seems to prove that, whatsoever's 
advice he had, no other hand but his drew the first con- 
stitution of Connecticut. — Schenck's History of Fairfield. 

He rendered most essential services, was a principal 
in framing its original civil constitution. — Trumbull's 
History of Connecticut. 

The authorship of it was generally attributed to 



32 Wadsworth 

A biographical sketch of Roger Ludlow shows 
that he was born in England in 1590, educated 
at Baloil College, Oxford, and admitted as a 
student at the Queen's Temple in 1612. He first 
became interested in colonial affairs in 1629, 
when he was chosen assistant in a company which 
had procured the charter of "The Governor and 
Company of Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
land" from Charles I. His associates included 
Lord Warwick, Lord Say and Seal, Winthrop 
and Vane. At this time his brother-in-law, John 
Endicott, was interested in the Dorchester Com- 
pany and was in New England founding a settle- 
ment at Salem. 

In the spring of 1630 Roger Ludlow sailed for 
America, one of his companions on the voyage 
being Captain John Mason,^ a soldier of renown, 

Roger Ludlow. — Brinley's Reprint of Laws, of 1673. 

He was the principal framer of the constitution of 
1638-9. — Day's Notes. 

'John Mason was born in 1600. He entered the 
army at an early age and served with distinction under 
Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Netherlands. He came to 
America in 1630 and settled at Dorchester where he 
remained until 1636, when he removed to Windsor. In 
1646 he removed to Saybrook and in 1659 to Norwich. 
John Mason was an assistant from 1642 to 1659, deputy 
governor of Connecticut 1660 to 1668, and major gen- 
eral of Connecticut 1661 to 1669. He died at Norwich 
in 1672. While the struggle between Charles L and 
the Long Parliament was in progress, Mason was re- 
quested to return to England and enter the parliamen- 
tary army. He declined. 



Introduction 33 

who had served under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the 
Netherlands and who afterwards accompanied 
Ludlow to Windsor and led the colonial troops 
in the Pequot war. Upon landing in New Eng- 
land, Ludlow located at Dorchester, where he 
remained for five years. During that period he 
was chosen magistrate in the Court of Assistants 
and was also elected Deputy Governor of the 
Colony. In 1633 he was a candidate for governor 
but was defeated by John Haynes, of Newtown. 
This defeat with other differences created in the 
heat of election, prompted Ludlow to join in the 
Dorchester movement towards the Connecticut 
valley. 

In 1636 Roger Ludlow was the first man 
named in the commission granted by the General 
Court of Massachusets to "govern the people at 
Connecticott for the space of one year." For 
the next nineteen years his name was linked with 
the history of the colony of Connecticut. He ar- 
rived at what is now known as Windsor, May 6, 
1636, took up a town lot and began to devise 
means to protect the new settlement from the 
Indians. May i, 1637, found him presiding at the 
first court held in Hartford, then known as New- 
town, it being the one at which war was declared 
on the Pequots. Prior to the swamp fight that 
followed the destruction of the Pequot fort, Lud- 



34 Wadsworth 

low joined Mason, Stoughton and the Indian 
allies at Saybrook, and while accompanying the 
troops first saw the land which he afterwards 
purchased from the Indians and named Fairfield. 
The Colonial Records show that Roger Lud- 
low was a magistrate in 1637 and 1638, the first 
Deputy Governor of Connecticut under the Con- 
stitution of 1638-9, John Haynes, who defeated 
him in Massachusetts, being at the head of the 
ticket. He was also chosen as a Magistrate in 
1640, and every year from that date until he left 
the colony in 1654, except in 1642 and 1648, when 
he was again chosen Deputy Governor. In 1643 
Ludlow was one of the representatives from Con- 
necticut in the negotiations which led to the con- 
federation of the colonies. His skill as a lawyer 
was also recognized by the General Court in 1646, 
when he was requested to draw up a body of laws 
for the government of the commonwealth. This 
task was completed in 1650, when at the May 
session what is known as the Ludlow Code or 
Code of 1650 was adopted.^ 

' Mr. Ludlowe is requested to take some paynes in 
drawing forth a body of Lawes for the government of 
this Comonwelth and present the same to the next 
Generall Court; and if he can provide a man for his 
occasions while he is employed in the said searvice, he 
shall be paid at the country chardge. — Copy of order 
adopted by the General Court April 9, 1646. 



Introduction 35 

In 1639 the General Court gave Roger Ludlow 
permission to begin a plantation at Pequannocke. 
Moving from Windsor he located there and 
founded the town of Fairfield, which was placed 
under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. The foun- 
ders of New Haven did not feel very kindly 
towards the enterprise and in 1653, when both 
Fairfield and Stamford expected an attack from 
the Dutch and the Indians, Governor Eaton and 
his court declined to assist them. This, with his 
waning popularity in the broad field of New 
England, prompted Ludlow to sell his land in 
Fairfield and leave America. In May, 1654, he 
sailed with his family to Virginia, where, after 
visiting his brother George, he took ship for Eng- 
land. At that time Oliver Cromwell was Protec- 
tor. He controlled England by force of arms, 
had subdued Scotland and conquered Ireland. 
Sir Edmund Ludlow, the Lieutenant General of 
Ireland, met Roger Ludlow at Hollyhead in Sep- 
tember. Two months later the name of the colo- 
nial lawyer appeared as a member of the com- 
mission which was to determine all claims in con- 
nection with the forfeited lands in Ireland. He 
was reappointed in 1658. From that date Roger 
Ludlow's name disappeared from history. 

Endowed with talents that were in advance of 
his surroundings and the period in which he lived, 



36 Wadsworth 

Roger Ludlow's career in New England was be- 
set with disappointments. He had the ability 
and the desire to lead in every public measure, 
but to all appearances an impetuous temper de- 
prived him of the confidence which electors at that 
or any other period place in those whom they 
favor with the highest honors. Like scores of 
others he failed in reaching the coveted goal 
through a want of that conservative familiarity 
which eastern people call magnetism and which 
the western world looks for in a "good mixer." 



JOHN HAYNES. Colonizer 



John Haynes, the first Governor of Connecti- 
cut, and the third Governor of Massachusetts, 
was born in 1594, at Coddicot, County of Hert- 
ford, England. As has been stated he sailed for 
America in the Griffen, with Hooker and Stone, 
and located at Newtown. After serving the Mas- 
sachusetts colony as Assistant in 1634, he was in 
1635 elected Governor, succeeding T. Dudley, 
and retired the following year to make way for 
Harry Vane, the same Sir Harry Vane from 
whom Cromwell, when he dismissed the Rump 



Introduction 37 

Parliament, asked the Lord to deliver him and 
who was after the Restoration the last to suffer 
on the scaffold for his connection with the Com- 
monwealth. 

Being a man of broad and liberal views in the 
matter of religion and government, John Haynes 
was not very favorabl}'' impressed with the Mas- 
sachusetts Colony, and during the year after his 
arrival he took means to ascertain the feasibility 
of a settlement on the Connecticut River. The 
report was, so far as appearances show, favorable, 
and in 1636, John Haynes marched through the 
forest with Hooker and about one hundred of his 
followers who had one hundred and sixty head of 
cattle and a few sheep and swine. The following 
spring John Haynes removed his family to Hart- 
ford and for a time resided on what is now known 
as Main Street, opposite the Meeting House 
yard (Public Square). Within a year or two he 
purchased Richard Webb's lot, located at what is 
now known as the corner of Arch and Front 
Streets, and became the next door neighbor of 
Thomas Hooker. The Wyllys property, on 
which the Charter Oak stood, was on the oppo- 
site bank of the Little River. 

Before coming to America, John Haynes was 
twice married. By his first wife he had two sons 
and a daughter. Robert, the oldest, was left in 



38 Wadswofth 

charge of his father's estate. He espoused the 
cause of the Royalists during the Civil War and 
was imprisoned in the Tower by Cromwell. 
Hezekiah, the second son, took the side of the 
Parliament and became a Major General under 
Cromwell. After the Restoration, Charles II 
committed him to the Tower, where his brother 
is supposed to have died during the rule of the 
Protector, but he was finally set at liberty in 1662. 
John Haynes' second wife bore him three sons 
and three daughters. The sons, John, Roger and 
Joseph were educated at Harvard. John re- 
turned to England after his father's death and 
located at Colchester. Roger accompanied him 
and is supposed to have died on the voyage. 
Joseph graduated in 1658, located at Wethers- 
field, and in 1664 succeeded Samuel Stone as pas- 
tor of the First Church in Hartford. Of the 
daughters, Mary, married Joseph Cook, Ruth 
married Samuel Wyllys, and Martha, who was 
born in Hartford, married James Russell of 
Charlestown. John Haynes died in Hartford, 
March i, 1653-4, and the stone raised over his 
grave still stands in the old burying ground, cor- 
ner of Main and Gold Streets. Connecticut as a 
colony owed much to John Haynes'^ foresight 

' Whose hand soever may in detail have phrased and 
formulated the Fundamental Laws, and Haynes, and 



Introduction 39 

and means, of which he gave freely to advance its 
interests. 

The democracy of Hooker, Ludlow, Haynes 
and their associates, is now and always has been 
the ruling spirit of the Anglo Saxon race. It 
came into Britain with Hengist and Horsa, flour- 
ished under Alfred, from whose reign trial by 
jury dates, but was almost submerged by the 
feudal system of the Normans, which was con- 
tinued by the Plantaganets, the Houses of Lan- 
caster and York, survived the Tudors and did not 
disappear entirely until Cromwell appeared on 
the scene. While it remained the rights of the 
people were rarely considered, but with the ap- 
pearance in Parliament of deputies from the 
boroughs, the voice of the people began to com- 
mand respect and eventually had sufficient force 
to seek redress of grievances, until finally under 
Henry V. the Commons required that no laws 
should be framed merely upon their petitions un- 
less the statutes were worded by themselves and 
had been passed by them in the form of a bill. 

In 1295, Edward I., prior to a war with France. 

issued writs to the sheriffs enjoining them to 

send to Parliament along with the Knights of the 

Ludlow, and other men there were who might have 
done it. — Walker's Thomas Hooker. 

Haynes and Ludlow shaped the infant state. — Elli- 
ott's History of New England. 



40 Wadsworth 

Shire, two deputies from each borough within the 
county and these provided with sufficient power 
from their community to consent in its name to 
what the council should require of them, "as it is 
a most equitable rule," said the King in the pre- 
amble to the writ, "that what concerns all should 
be approved of by all," a principle which led to 
the foundation of equitable government.^ This 
was the beginning of the House of Commons, the 
deputies composing it being elected by the alder- 
men and the common council in their respective 
boroughs. This system of representation was 
reproduced in Connecticut, the town taking the 
place of the borough. It began with the Consti- 
tution of 1638-9 and is still in force. Under it 
Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield were 
allowed to send four of their freemen to every 
General Court "and whatever other towns shall 
be hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall 
send so many Deputys, as this Courte shall judge 
meete." 
********* 

For over two centuries the name of Hartford 
has been linked with the Charter Oak. Every 
school boy has read of Captain Joseph Wads- 
worth and looked upon him as a genuine hero in 
homespun, while Sir Edmund Andros has been 

'Hume's History of England. 



Introduction 43 

painted as black as the villain in the play. Both 
of them were bold and fearless men whose cour- 
age was tested on the battlefield, Andros be- 
ing called to walk with kings and princes, while 
Wadsworth lived from birth to old age within 
the boundaries of New England. 

The Charter Oak incident has always had a pe- 
culiar fascination for the writer, possibly because 
it was a little out of the ordinary and possibly 
because Charles II, the King who granted the 
Charter hid in an oak tree, when evading Crom- 
well's victorious troops after the battle of Wor- 
cester. After becoming a resident of Hartford I 
made an effort to learn all the details, historical and 
legendary, in connection with it and the people who 
took part in the exploit which gave the tree a 
place in American history. After exhausting the 
archives of the Connecticut Historical Society, 
which has in its vault a signature of the turbulent 
Captain Joseph Wadsworth, the Wadsworth 
Inn was visited. It is at present occupied by 
Daniel Wadsworth, a lineal descendant of Will- 
iam Wadsworth, through his son, Joseph, who 
hid the charter in the oak and who at a later date 
was bold enough to tell Governor Fletcher of 
New York that if he interrupted him while put- 
ting his men through their exercises he would let 
the light shine through him, and that, at a time 



44 Wadsworth 

when the Governor was striving to publish a 
commission from King William giving him com- 
mand of the Connecticut militia. And it might 
also be added that Wadsworth and his drummers 
made a tremendous uproar to drown anything 
which might be said by the New York visitors. 

The Wadsworth Inn stands on the edge of a 
steep hill at the corner of Albany and Prospect 
Avenues, the latter being the Western boundary 
of the City of Hartford. It is a two-story red 
brick building with an addition in the rear in 
which the kitchen and dining room were located 
when the Albany stage coaches and freight 
wagons brought business to its doors. All of 
those, however, rolled away years ago, the rail- 
road having diverted the line of travel into other 
channels. While the world marched on, the old 
building remains just as it was when Elisha 
Wadsworth opened its doors for business in 1820. 
The little tap room in the north-west corner still 
has its fireplace, brick hearth and bar, and an old 
grandfather's clock swings its pendulum to and 
fro at the foot of the stairs in the hall, while on 
the walls are to be found prints of scenes con- 
nected with the early history of Connecticut. 
"Aunt" Lucy Wadsworth lived in this house for 
seventy years and in all of that time occupied the 
same room. She died August 30, 1900, aged nine- 



Introduction 45 

ty-eight years and eight months. Lucy Wads- 
worth was a daughter of Elisha Wadsworth, who 
was born in 1781 and died in 1854. Her brother, 
Sidney Wadsworth, was born in 1813 and died in 
1887. He was the father of Daniel Wadsworth, 
the present occupant of the Inn. Elisha Wads- 
worth, the father of Lucy and Sidney, was the 
third member of the family to bear that name, 
his father being Elisha Wadsworth (1750-1824), 
son of Elisha Wadsworth (1721-1780), son of 
Ichabad Wadsworth (1688-17^), son of Captain 
Joseph Wadsworth (1648-1730), son of William 
Wadsworth (1595-1675), one of the original plan- 
ters of Hartford. 

In response to an inquiry for data connected 
with the Wadsworths dead and gone, Daniel 
Wadsworth told me that he had frequently heard 
his father and Aunt Lucy speak of a box of old 
papers in the garret. He said that he had never 
seen it, but that he would make a search and re- 
port. A few days later I received a note from him 
stating that he had the box and if I would call 
he would be pleased to give it to me with the con- 
tents. The find proved a time stained box made 
of inch pine boards fastened together with hand 
made nails. When found the cover was pushed 
to one side and many of the papers on the top 
were torn, while the edges of others were frayed 



46 Wadsworth 

by mice which had used portions of the material 
to make nests for their young. In this box I 
found scores of letters, accounts, and notes of all 
sizes and descriptions, summons issued under the 
authority of the Kings of England to appear in 
court and folded with them other summons 
issued under the authority of the State of Con- 
necticut to appear in the same place. A republic 
known as the United States of America was 
established between the dates on which those 
papers were served, and Connecticut, as well as 
the Wadsworths within and without its boun- 
daries, had fought nobly in the cause, leaving in 
the path of history footprints as deep as the im- 
mediate descendents of William and Christopher 
Wadsworth had on the colonial records of New 
England. 

Accounts of every character and description 
were scattered through the letters, the list of 
items including everything from a barrel of rum 
to pasture for a cow, while deeds, notes and other 
memoranda outlined the daily lives of those who 
penned them. A few of the bills on the top of the 
box were made out in dollars and cents, but all 
prior to 1783 were in the pounds, shillings and 
pence of Great Britain. All of them were silent 
witnesses of the change of government. Under 
the several packages of letters, all of which 



Introduction 47 

showed that they had been sealed with wafers, 
many of them still retaining a portion of the wax, 
I found a parcel somewhat frayed at the ends — 
mice again no doubt — and tied with what looked 
like a sinew of a deer. Whatever it was, time had 
made it so brittle that it parted as soon as 
handled. 

Upon examining the papers I found the material 
from which the following sketches were written. 
Whether they are fact or fancy, and my impres- 
sion is that there is a little of both, must remain 
in doubt until another discovery of a similar na- 
ture is made. Those who have read them are of 
the opinion that the material presented is the 
basis of the Wadsworth family legends, which 
have been handed down from one generation to 
another and which have been repeated from time 
out of mind by many a gray head at New Eng- 
land firesides during the winter evenings. When 
a green log would snap and send the coals flying 
over the hearth, more than one was heard to 
exclaim that the spirit of Old Joe was in it, while 
those whose lives led them back to the deeds 
related by their grandparents would nod their 
heads and chuckle over the dead, dead past whose 
events were chronicled by an occasional pen or 
the uncertain memories of those who took a part 
in them. The ubiquitous reporter and the corre- 



48 Wadsworth 

spondent at the front were unheard of in those 
days. The men who acted in that period had no 
time to pose for photographers or artists on the 
spot. They were after results, not a few hours* 
notoriety to be followed by contention, criticism 
and obscurity. As for books and news letters, 
they are rare, and those that can be located are, 
with a few exceptions, filled with events from 
the great outside world with an occasional item 
about the land we live in. 

Memory plays many pranks with history. Its 
products are attractive, but as a rule unreliable, 
as like a snowball on a warm day in winter, the 
volume increases with each revolution on the hill 
of time. Still it supplies the gloss and spangles 
used to dress statistical matter, which is as dry 
and uninteresting, but at the same time as neces- 
sary as the multiplication table. By blending 
fact and fancy it is possible to weave a narrative 
which entertains and at the same time instructs the 
reader. Those who believe it can ; those who 
doubt it may ; — so let it go at that. 



MEMORIES 



MEMORIES 



WILLIAM WADSWORTH 



Now that old age and the infirmities that ac- 
company it keep me by the fireside during the 
winter months, I have, at the request of my chil- 
dren and grandchilden, consented to put on paper 
a few of the events in which the Wadsworth 
family took part in the early days of the Connect- 
icut Colony. There was a time when it was said 
that whenever there was danger on foot or fight- 
ing in the wind you would meet some one bearing 
the name, and I hope it will always be so, provid- 
ing the risk is taken or the fighting done on the 
side of right. During my life I have had more 
than my share of trouble with Indian surprises, 
Dutch and French alarms and disputes with my 
own folk, as well as those acting in authority for 
the King and colony. Many a time I have been 
called upon to pay the penalty for temper, and 
when in the wrong no one ever saw the time that 
I refused to make public or private reflections 
upon myself. I have always tried in my poor 
way to take what was allotted me in good part 
and make amends for an injury, be it white man. 



52 Wadsworth 

Indian or slave.^ That is the trail I blazed 
through life, and while the bark is off many a 
tree, now when old age has cooled the hot blood 
of youth and the ardor of middle age, with an 
old man's vanity I can say that I am proud of it, 
and I say it as a soldier, as a lawyer, and as a 
former deputy of Connecticut, of which my 
father, William Wadsworth, was an original 
planter. 

There is a strain of Anglo-Saxon fighting blood 
in all the Wadsworths, and I hope it will never 

* The following, which was found in the box, was no 
doubt written to illustrate this: 

"As father grew older a marked change became ap- 
parent to all of us. Age softened the sharpness of his 
tongue and brought with it a desire for comradeship 
that was very pleasing to all of us. Abroad, Captain 
Joe was the same bluff, old soldier who would 
shoulder a pike or gun as cheerfully as he would come 
home to dinner, but at the fireside he always spoke of 
the past, reminding all of us frequently by name that 
the greatest good to the greatest number was accom- 
plished by the most direct measures. After reading 
from the New Testament he frequently said that the 
greatest sayings were the simplest and that the 
thoughts which bore conviction were clothed in the 
language of a child. He rarely turned to the Old Tes- 
tament upon which many of the penal laws of the col- 
ony were based. On one of his visits the Teacher men- 
tioned this and father, ever ready with the tongue, 
said that it was a mistake for the colony to tax the 
Jews when it had taken the laws handed down to them 
by Moses. As I write I can still hear him tell the 
Teacher that the people of all beliefs should be told to 
love one another regardless of their faith, as all men 
could not think alike." 



'v^ <-^ ■-'^v)^j--J"^vt/t/->:^*x- 








WADSWORTHS FROM 1595 to 1904 



Memories 55 

breed out. Father said it came down to us from 
the Yorkshire Wadsworths, who traced to Duke 
Wada.^ Whether it did or not is foreign to my 
task, and lest I give oflfense to those who may 
read these notes, I shall from this time confine 
my remarks to the Wadsworth family and those 
with whom they were associated in England and 
America. 

William Wadsworth, my father, came from 
Newtown with the Hooker company in 1636 and 
remained in Hartford the balance of his life. He 
died in 1675 as is shown by the town records. He 

* The following reference to Duke Wada in York- 
shire appears in the Wadsworth Family in America, 
the paragraph quoted being from Lionel Charlton's 
History of Whitby, 1779. "During the course of these 
civil wars, some little time before the year 800, one of 
the chief leaders or heads of the faction against the 
government was Duke Wada, who lived in the neigh- 
borhood of Streanshalh, having his castle at the place 
now called Mulgrave. This Wada was one of the prin- 
cipal conspirators among those that murdered Ethel- 
red, King of Northumberland; and afterwards joining 
the confederates with what forces he could raise, gave 
battle to his successor, Ardulph, at Whalley in Lin- 
colnshire, but with such ill fortune, that his army was 
routed and himself obliged to fly for it. On which he 
fortified his castle at Mulgrave with an intention to 
defend himself; but being seized with a certain dis- 
temper, he soon ended his days, and was interred there 
on a hill, between two hard stones, about seven feet 
high, which being twelve feet from each other, gave 
rise to the current report, which still prevails, that he 
was a giant in bulk and stature." It is further fabled, 
that Wada and his wife, the giantess Bell, built Mul- 



56 Wadsworth 

was born at Long Buckley in Northamptonshire, 
England, in 1595, or, as he always stated it, in the 
thirty-seventh year of the reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth, and came to New England on the ship Lion 
in 1633 with his four children, Sarah, Mary, Wil- 
liam and John, and his brother Christopher.^ 

grave and Pickering castles, one working upon one 
and the other upon the second. But since they had 
only one hammer, they threw it backwards and for- 
wards across the country when it was wanted, shout- 
ing so that the one to whom it was thrown might be 
ready to catch it. They had a son, who when an in- 
fant could throw stones of enormous size, and becom- 
ing impatient one day for his mother's return, threw 
a huge stone across a valley at her, striking here with 
such force as to indent the stone itself. The Roman 
Road, which is called Wade's Causeway, was formed 
by Wada and Bell; he paving and she bringing stones 
in her apron, which, sometimes giving way, would 
cause her to drop large heaps, which can now be seen 
in the heath. — There can be but little doubt that the 
name of Wadsworth originally signified Wada's or 
Waddy's residence. Worth, according to Edmonds, 
being derived in the Anglo-Saxon from Wyrth, an es- 
tate or manor, usually one well watered. (See Glos- 
sary of Yorkshire Words.) 

* Christopher Wadsworth's name did not appear on 
the Lion's passenger list and the date of his landing 
was unknown until 1881, when E. S. Cowles, of Hart- 
ford, Conn., came into possession of a Bible in which 
the following is written: 

"Christopher Wadsworth. His Book." 

"Christopher and William Wadsworth landed in 
Boston by ye ship Lion i6th September, 1632, together 
in ye ship." 

This Bible was printed in London by Bonham Nor- 
ton and John Bill, 1625. 



Memories 57 

Christopher settled in Massachusetts at Duxbury 
and his descendants are well known in those 
parts, several of them having fought and died in 
the Indian wars. 

The voyage on the Lion was the second made 
by my father to the English colonies in America, 
as in a book which my brother John gave me 
some time before his death I find the following 
entry : 

November 22, 1621. Came this day to Newport 
News with Daniel Gookin in the Flying Harte. 

This Daniel Gookin^ was a native of Kent and 
was at that time located at Cork, Ireland. He 
owned over two thousand acres of land at New- 
port News, as well as a number of vessels in 
which he shipped cattle and goats from England 
and Ireland to the Virginia colony. Father sailed 
with him, as stated, in the Flying Harte and landed 
at Newport News in November. 

* According to the most ancient records of Virginia, 
Daniel Gooken was granted two thousand acres in 
Elizabeth City county, commonly called Newport 
News. (William and Mary College Quarterly for 
1897, Vol. VI, p. 257.) Newport News is now by leg- 
islative enactment wholly in Warwick County. Prior 
to 1621 Thomas Wood in behalf of Daniel Gookin 
completed a treaty with the Virginia Company for the 
transportation of cattle of the English breed out of 
Ireland, the rate agreed upon being 11 pounds for 
heifers and 3 pounds 10 shillings for she goats upon 
certificate of safe landing. (Virginia Company in 
London.) 



58 Wadsworth 

On another page of the same book there ap- 
pears a few facts in relation to the Indian massa- 
cre which occurred March 22 of the following 
year. In it three hundred and forty-nine people 
were killed almost without a moment's warning. 
Daniel Gookin and those who were with him re- 
sisted the attack and escaped with their lives, 
and when at a later date the governor of the col- 
ony ordered the remnant of the people to draw 
together for mutual protection, he was one of 
those who refused to obey, the others, according 
to these notes, being Edward Hill at Elizabeth 
City and Samuel Jordan at Jordan's Point. By 
throwing up intrenchments and mounting cannon 
they put themselves in a position to defend them- 
selves from further attacks, which fortunately 
never occurred, as the Indians in Virginia were 
from that day hunted like beasts of prey. 

A short time after the massacre Daniel Gookin 
sailed for London in the Sea Flower. He was 
accompanied by my father and a number of 
others who left the colony forever. Virginia was 
almost depopulated, the number of the plantations 
being reduced, as Daniel Gookin's son told me, 
from eighty to six. As the years rolled by, others 
arrived from England to take the place of the 
dead and those who sailed away in the summer 
of 1622. Daniel Gookin, after bearing the details 



Memories 59 

of the massacre to the Virginia Company in Lon- 
don, also returned and became one of the most 
important men in the colony. His son, also 
named Daniel,^ at a later date became one of the 
noted men in the English colonies. Being a mem- 
ber of the Puritan church, he removed in 1644 
from Virginia to Massachusetts, and settled at 
Cambridge, where he died in 1687. 

My father's life from the time he settled in 
Hartford was busy, though uneventful. The 
town records show that he was a selectman, 
townsman and constable between 1638-9, when the 
Fundamental Orders were adopted, and 1656, and 
that he was a deputy at almost every session of 

' Daniel Gookin, 2d, was born in Kent, England, in 
1612, and is supposed to have accompanied his father 
to Virginia when he returned after reporting the In- 
dian massacre to the Virginia Company in London in 
1622. In 1642 he was President of the County Court 
at Upper Norfolk. In 1644 he removed to Massachu- 
setts and located at Cambridge. He became a, friend 
of John Eliot, the "apostle to the Indians." According 
to the Massachusetts Historical collections (Vol. i, p. 
228) Daniel Gookin was in 1644 chosen member of the 
House of Deputies as well as appointed captain of a 
military company. In 1652 he was elected assistant 
and in 1656 superintendent of all the Indians in Mas- 
sachusetts and continued in that office until his death, 
except for two or three years while in England. In 
1656 he visited Cromwell's court and had an inter- 
view with the Protector who commissioned him to in- 
vite the people of Massachusetts to go to Jamaica. 
He was very unpopular during the King Philip war as 
he sympathized with the Indians. He died in 1687, 



60 Wadsworth 

the General Court from that year up to the day 
of his death. 

The Lion sailed from London June 22, 1633, 
and arrived at Boston on Sunday evening, Sep- 
tember 16, with one hundred and twenty-three 
passengers, of which fifty were children. Of this 
number, in addition to my father and his family, 
the following came to Hartford with Hooker: 
William Goodwin, James Olmstead, his two sons, 
Nicholas and Nehemiah, two nephews, Richard 
and John, and a niece, Rebecca, Nathaniel Rich- 
ards, William Lewis, Elder John White and John 
Talcott. William Goodwin was the neighbor 
and friend of Thomas Hooker and was for many 
years an elder of the church. He was one of the 
agents who purchased Farmington from the In- 
dians, while he also purchased large tracts of land 
up the river. After Hooker's death he diflfered 
with my uncle, Samuel Stone, in the management 
of the church, and finally, with Governor Web- 
ster, led what was known as the "Withdrawers," 
from Hartford to Hadley. 

I have always been told that this dismember- 
ment of the church was a dark day for Hartford, 
still those who remained, retained a kindly 
feeling for their brethren further up the Connecti- 
cut, as was shown by the assistance sent them 
during the Indian wars. In my soldiering days I 



Memories 61 

was there a number of times and on one of my 
visits met with an adventure which will be writ- 
ten down in its proper place. Elder Goodwin did 
not live to see the sad days of the King Philip 
war, as after living at South Hadley for about 
ten years, he removed to Farmington, where he 
died in 1673. It was in the month of March, and 
a cold and stormy month it was. My brother 
John and I were at his funeral and ate and drank, 
as I remember, more than our share of the fare 
provided for the mourners. 

James Olmsted came to Hartford with his two 
sons, two nephews and niece Rebecca. He died 
in 1640, his place being taken in the colony by 
his son Nathaniel, who at the age of eighteen 
served in the Pequot war and was with Mason 
when the fort was destroyed. He was also in the 
King Philip war and died in 1684, His brother 
Nehemiah removed in 1649 to Fairfield, a town 
founded by Roger Ludlow, between New Haven 
and the Dutch settlement at Manhattan. He died 
in 1659. Richard, one of the nephews, was in 
the Pequot war and also in the Sasco fight. In 
165 1 he removed to Norwalk, where he died in 
1684. The burying ground occupies the lot as- 
signed Richard Olmsted. It was taken^ after it 

^January 11, 1640-1. The first settlers of Connecticut 
commenced their year on the 25th of March. This was 
continued in Great Britain and the American colonies 
until 1752. 



62 Wadsworth 

was decided not to make any more burials in the 
Meeting House yard. John, the other nephew, 
became a physician and surgeon. He removed to 
Saybrook, but finally settled at Norwich. During 
the King Philip war he was with the train bands. 
Nathaniel Richards remained in Hartford un- 
til 1650, when he, with a number of others, plant- 
ed the town of Norwalk, while William Lewis 
and John White, two of the remaining compan- 
ions of my father on the Lion, were with the 
"Withdrawers" who turned their backs on Hart- 
ford in 1659. Lewis remained at South Hadley 
until after the King Philip war, when he re- 
moved to Farmington and died there in 1683. 
John White returned to Hartford in 1671 and was 
ordained ruling elder of the Second church. One 
of his daughters married Barnabas Hinsdale, who 
was in the company under Captain Lathrop, that 
was killed by the Indians while marching with 
carts laden with corn and other goods from Deer- 
field to Hadley. Hubbard, in his "Narrative of 
the Indian Wars," printed in Boston in 1677, says, 
"Upon September 18 (1675) that most fatal day, 
the saddest that ever befell New England, as the 
company under Captain Lathrop was marching 
along with the carts, never apprehending danger 
so near, they were suddently set upon and almost 
all cut off (ninety killed, teamsters included), not 



Memories 63 

above seven or eight escaping." That night Ma- 
jor Treat arrived at Deerfield with a company of 
English and Mohegans. On the following day 
he and Captain Mosely marched to the scene of 
ambush and buried the brave men where they 
fell. 

John Talcott came from Braintree in Essex. 
He was accompanied by his wife, Dorothy and 
their two children, Mary and John. Like all of 
the members of the Hooker company, they set- 
tled at Newtown and remained there until 1636, 
John Talcott being twice elected deputy in the 
interval. His son, Samuel, was also born at that 
place. John Talcott came to Hartford with 
Hooker, and from that day to this one or more 
members of the family have been continuously 
chosen to represent the freemen. At the time of 
his death, in 1660, John Talcott was an assistant 
and treasurer of the colony. Before that he was 
a deputy. His son, John, succeeded him as treas- 
urer. He held the office until 1676, when he re- 
signed to command the troops in the King Philip 
war. I am proud to say that I have marched un- 
der his orders. Colonel Talcott routed the In- 
dians wherever he found them and they were as 
much afraid of him and Major Treat as the Irish 
are said to have been of Oliver Cromwell. 
Throughout New England both of these men 



64 Wadsworfh 

were known as skillful and bold soldiers. In my 
humble way when a command came to me I tried 
to follow in their footsteps, and now in my old 
age I can look back and say that where I failed 
in skill I more than balanced the loss with bold- 
ness. 

John Talcott's name appears in the charter which 
King Charles II. gave the colony in 1662, and 
when it was received he, with Samuel Wyllys 
and John Allyn, were appointed by the General 
Court to see that no harm came to it. The 
charter was kept in a box which I have 
been told Winthrop made with his own 
hands in London. Whether this is true or not 
I am not prepared to state positively, but the box^ 
can be seen and the man who made it was not a 
joiner. The box and the charters were for a 
number of years deposited with John Allyn. On 
town meeting days one of them was carried to 
the Meeting House and read to the people. That 
I can certify to, as I was present a number of 
times when it was read and I was also present 
when it was not read — but of that anon. 

John Talcott died about two months after Ed- 
mund Andros joined the government of this col- 
ony to Massachusetts. He left a large family, 

* This box is among the relics owned by the Con- 
necticut Historical Society. 



Memories 65 

my second wife, Elizabeth, being one of his 
daughters, and I hope to live long enough to see 
his son Joseph Governor of Connecticut.^ Mary, 
the oldest daughter of John Talcott, married the 
Rev. John Russell, of Wethersfield, in 1649. They 
removed with the "Withdrawers," in 1659, to 
South Hadley, where Mistress Russell died the 
following year. Her husband remained at that 
place and the majority of the members of his 
church in Wethersfield followed him. It was in 
his house that the King's Judges, William Whal- 
ley and his son-in-law, Edward Gofife, found shel- 
ter when they fled from Milford, and it was my 
privilege to meet both of these good men, who 
suffered without complaint and died in exile for 
doing what their conscience dictated. 



CROMWELL 



The names of Whalley and Gofife recall a few 
incidents in connection with my father's early 
days in England, together with what both of 
them told me of the history of the Cromwell fam- 

^ Captain Joseph Wadsworth lived to see Joseph Tal- 
cott Governor of Connecticut. He died in 1630 and 
Joseph Talcott was elected Governor in 1624 and re- 
mained in office until 1641. 



66 Wadsworth 

ily. Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of 
England, was Whalley's cousin, his father and 
Whalley's mother being brother and sister. By 
his skill in battle, boldness in counsel and vigor 
in debate, Cromwell rose from a sheep farmer in 
the fen country to a king in all but name, and 
that what they told me may not be lost, I will 
write it, although it is connected only incidentally 
with the Wadsworths. 

The country seat of the Cromwells was named 
Hinchenbrook, its name being taken from the 
brook that joins the Ouse River near Huntingdon 
in Huntingdonshire. The estate was originally 
a convent and after it was suppressed Sir Rich- 
ard Cromwell,^ the founder of the family, pur- 

* Sir Richard Cromwell was a son of Morgan Wil- 
liams or Morgan ap Williams, whose father, William 
ap Yeran, held an honorable place in the household of 
William, Duke of Bedford, and it is said in that of his 
nephew Henry VII. Morgan Williams married a sister 
of Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, and 
their son upon the suggestion of Henry VIII. assumed 
the name of his uncle. An attempt on the part of the 
Roman Catholics in 1536 to check the progress of 
the Reformation in the eastern counties of England 
afforded Henry VIII. with a pretext for demolishing 
the monasteries in that district and for disbursing their 
revenues among his favorites and dependents. Ram- 
sey Abbey was partly given and partly sold to Richard 
Williams, alias Cromwell. He named it Hinchen- 
brook. It became the home of the Cromwells and re- 
mained in the family until Sir Oliver, impoverished by 
the visits of royalty, was forced to sell it during the 
reign of Charles I. to the Montagues. The crown giv- 



Memories 67 

chased it from King Henry VIII. This Sir Rich- 
ard was a son of a Glamorganshire squire named 
Williams and a sister of Thomas Cromwell, 
known in history as the "Mauler of the Monas- 
teries," and to whom, according to Shakespeare, 
the fallen Cardinal Woolsey said: 

"Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition! 
Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my King, he would not in mine old age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies." 

eth and the crown taketh away. Sir Henry Cromwell, 
a son of Sir Oliver and a cousin of the Protector, 
served in several Parliaments for Huntingdonshire, 
voting in 1660 for the Restoration of the Monarchy, 
and as he knew that the name of Cromwell would not 
be acceptable at court he discarded it and assumed 
that of Williams, and he is so styled in a list of 
Knights of the proposed order of the Royal Oak. He 
died at Huntingdon August 3, 1673. On March 22, 
1663, Pepys referred to him in his Diary as "Colonel 
Williams, Cromwell that was." Thomas Fuller, in 
the second volume of his Church History of Great 
Britain, says that Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, 
the founder of the family, was one of five who in the 
thirty-second year of Henry VIII. made the bold 
challenge at jousts to all comers that would, in France, 
Flanders, Scotland and Spain. He came into the place 
an esquire, but departed a Knight, dubbed by the King 
for his valor, clearly carrying away the credit; over- 
throwing Mr. Palmer in the field at jousts in one day, 
and the next serving Mr. Culpepper at barriers in the 
same manner. Heretofore there goeth a tradition in 
the family, that King Henry was highly pleased with 
his prowess. "Formerly," said he, "thou wast my 
Dick, but hereafter thou shalt be my Diamond," and 
thereat let fall his diamond ring upon him. In avow- 
ance thereof these Cromwells have ever since given 
for their crest "a lion holding a diamond ring in his 
forepaw." 



68 Wadsworth 

Thomas Cromwell defended Woolsey with so 
much spirit that King Henry VIII.'s attention 
was called to him. This laid the foundation of his 
favor with the King, who in six years conferred 
on him the titles Vicar General, Lord Cromwell 
and Earl of Essex, and finally sent him to the 
scaffold. During the period of prosperity his 
nephew was knighted and at the suggestion of the 
king adopted the name of his distinguished uncle, 
although up to the time of the Protector all of 
the important family papers were signed Crom- 
well, alias Williams. In his day Sir Richard also 
made a name for himself at Court by his skill at 
arms, one of his most brilliant exploits being in a 
tournament at Westminster, on May Day, in 
1540, when he defended the honor and rights of 
the English king against the challenges from 
France, Flanders, Scotland and Spain. 

Sir Richard left Hinchenbrook to his son 
Henry. He was held in high regard by Queen 
Elizabeth, who knighted him and did him further 
honor by lodging at Hinchenbrook while return- 
ing from a visit to the University at Cambridge. 
Sir Henry completed the manor house and spent 
the money which his father acquired in the cru- 
sades against the monasteries and convents, so 
lavishly that he was known as the "Golden 
Knight." He died in 1603, leaving six sons and 



3Iemories 69 

three daughters. Of the latter, Joan became Lady 
Barrington, Elizabeth the mother of John Hamp- 
den, and Frances the mother of William Whalley, 
upon whom Oliver Cromwell leaned in war and 
peace. Of the sons, Oliver inherited Hinchen- 
brook, Robert settled in Huntingdon and married 
Widow Lynne, nee Elizabeth Steward, and in 
time became the father of Oliver Cromwell, the 
Lord Protector. A daughter of Henry, the third 
son, married Oliver St. John, the lawyer who de- 
fended John Hampden in the ship money trial and 
who afterwards became one of the strong men 
in the commonwealth. Philip, the fourth son, 
was knighted by King James, at Whitehall, 
while his sons fought for and against King 
Charles in the Revolution, two being with the 
Parliament and one with the Cavaliers. Neither 
Richard or Ralph, the remaining sons, made much 
stir in the world, although Richard was sent to 
Parliament from Huntingdon in Queen Elizabeth's 
time, but members were not permitted to say much 
in those days. 

In April, 1603, about four months after Sir 
Henry's death. King James lodged two nights at 
Hinchenbrook. He was at the time traveling 
from Scotland to ascend the English throne, and 
in return for the splendid entertainment of him- 
self and retinue, the third member of the Crom- 



70 Wadsworth 

well family was knighted. The following year 
in September another member of the Stuart fam- 
ily lodged at Hinchenbrook. The guest on this 
occasion was Charles, the second son of King 
James and then known as Duke of York. On the 
morning after his arrival Robert Cromwell and 
his wife,^ who was proud of her connection with 

* Genealogists have shown that Oliver Cromwell and 
Charles I. were distantly related. Both of them were 
descended from Alexander, the Lord High Steward 
of Scotland. He had three sons, James, John and 
Andrew. James succeeded to the hereditary office of 
his father and transmitted it on his death to his son 
Walter, who brought the Scottish crown into the fam- 
ily by marrying Margery, the eldest daughter of Rob- 
ert Bruce and heiress of his brother David, who died 
without issue. Their son was Robert II., King of 
Scotland, the line of succession from him to Charles 
I. being through Robert III., James I., James II., 
James III., James IV., James V., Mary and James VI., 
who was James I. of England and father of Charles 
I. The second branch of Alexander's descendants 
through his son are known in history as the Earls 
and Dukes of Lennox, and was joined with the royal 
line when Lord Darnley married Mary, Queen of 
Scots, whose only child was the first of the ill-fated 
Stuarts to ascend the throne of England. Andrew, 
the third son, lived at Dundavale. His grandson was 
appointed one of the attendants of James I. when he 
was sent to France to evade the intrigues of his uncle, 
the Duke of Albany. The vessel in which they sailed 
was driven on the English coast and Henry IV. de- 
tained the prince and his suite as prisoners. Growing 
restless under restraint this member of the Steward 
family, whose name was John, consented to fix his 
residence in England if released. He married advan- 
tageously and was knighted. Elizabeth Steward, the 
mother of Oliver Cromwell, traced to this grandson of 



Memories 71 

the Stuart family, although it was rather remote, 
called at Hinchenbrook, taking their son Oliver, 
then a rugged boy of five years, with them. The 
boys met and were soon on good terms, as 
neither of them had arrived at the age which 
places a barrier between the reigning family and 
a subject. While romping on the green in front 
of the manor house they quarreled and before the 
Prince's attendants could interfere Oliver made 
the blood flow from the Duke of York's nose. As 
soon as they were separated Oliver was hur- 
ried away in disgrace, while the Prince proceeded 
to London. In time he became King Charles I, 
while Oliver grew up at Huntingdon, attended 
Dr. Beard's school and was eventually taken to 

Alexander, Lord High Steward of Scotland, through 
William Steward, Archibald Steward, Richard Steward, 
Thomas Steward, and Sir John Steward. When Hen- 
ry VIII. suppressed the monasteries one of the Stew- 
ards was prior of Ely. Like his first ancestor in Eng- 
land he preferred a good living to the stings of adver- 
sity and became the first Protestant Dean of Ely. 
Thomas Steward succeeded his father William Steward. 
He was knighted by King James in 1604 and farmed 
the tithes of Ely until January, 1635-6, when he died, his 
sister's son, Oliver Cromwell, being his principal heir. 
Had the Lord Protector accepted Charles II. 's offer 
to marry his daughter Frances the third branch would 
have been joined to the royal line. In that event the 
remark of James V. that the crown came with a lass 
and would go with a lass, as it actually did, might have 
been forgotten with the thousand and one prophecies 
which fail to materialize. 



72 Wadsworth 

Cambridge by his father. When Oliver and 
Charles again met face to face, the latter was on 
trial for his life and Cromwell was one of his 
Judges. 

Upon the death of his father in 1617, Oliver left 
Cambridge and returned to Huntingdon to assist 
his mother in looking after their estate and in 
rearing his six sisters. At the time he was a bold 
resolute blade who had few equals at cudgeling 
and quarterstafif, and a temper that would flare 
up at the least provocation. He never made any 
friends, but was ever ready to have a bout with 
anyone of his years in Huntingdon or the sur- 
rounding villages, and there were few who 
bothered him after the first encounter. From 
the day that he quarreled with Prince Charles at 
Hinchenbrook, strange tales were told of Oliver 
Cromwell, many an old wife in the fen country, 
where witches^ abounded, shaking their heads with 

' Of all the manias which have affected the English 
speaking race the one against witchcraft has left the 
blackest mark. The extent to which it was carried 
by enlightened fanatics, the majority of whom were 
men of influence, although for some reason none of 
them were tainted with it, can be gathered from the 
laws enacted and the penalties imposed. In 1559 
Bishop Jewell, while preaching before Elizabeth, called 
attention to the marvellous increase of witches and 
sorceresses and petitioned the Queen to have laws im- 
posed against them. In accordance with the good 
man's wishes, in 1562 at the next session of Parlia- 
ment, a bill was passed making enchantment and 



Memories 73 

awe as they told of the gigantic figure that ap- 
peared to him in a vision and said he would be 

witchcraft a felony. A number of what were termed 
witches, but in the majority of cases helpless old men, 
women and even children, were convicted under it, three 
being hanged at Warboise in Huntingdonshire in 
1593- Under James I., who had before leaving Scot- 
land assisted in the execution of several warlocks and 
witches, this law was amended so as to make witch- 
craft punishable by death and without the benefit of 
the clergy. This law was not repealed until 1735, the 
last execution under it being in 1722, when an old 
woman was burned at the stake in the north of Scot- 
land. At Chelmsford in Essex in 1645 there were thir- 
ty tried at once by Judge Coniers and fourteen of them 
hanged, and a hundred or more detained in prisons in 
Suffolk and Essex. In 1716 a woman and her nine- 
year-old daughter were hanged at Huntingdon, the 
town in which Cromwell was born, and he in all prob- 
ability witnessed the execution, for selling their souls 
to the devil and raising a storm by pulling off their 
stockings. 

To Hartford, Connecticut, belongs the doubtful 
honor of killing the first witch in America. In 1646 a 
person of Windsor was put to death on the charge of 
witchcraft at Hartford. No circumstances have been 
found nor the name of the sufferer. June 15, 1648, 
Maynard Jones of Charlestown was hanged in Bos- 
ton and on December 7 of the same year Mary Johns- 
ton of Windsor was hanged at Hartford on Rocky 
Hill, the present site of Trinity College. In 1662-3 
Nathaniel Greensmith and his wife Rebecca were tried 
for witchcraft and convicted in Hartford. Nathaniel 
Greensmith was executed January 25, 1662-3. There 
is no entry to show whether the woman was hanged 
or not. By the above it will be seen that all the 
witches in America were not executed at Salem, Mass., 
where in the delusion of 1692, of one hundred and 
thirty person accused, seventeen were hanged on Gal- 
lows Hill and eleven others were condemned to death, 
but did not suffer. 



74 Wadswoith 

the greatest man in England,^ a visitation in itself 
more wonderful than the phantom ship at New- 
Haven. 

As Oliver grew to man's estate the burdens of 
his uncle became heavier, until finally he was 
forced to sell Hinchenbrook to the Montagues 
and retire deeper into the fens. Oliver also dis- 
posed of his father's holdings in Huntingdon and 
removed to St. Ives where he became a sheep 
farmer. He was living there when my father 
sailed from London in 1632 for America. Long 
before these changes were made, my father ac- 
companied Oliver on one of his trips to London, 

^ The vision or dream in which Oliver Cromwell was 
told that he should be the greatest man in England 
made an impression that remained through life. As 
with Napoleon, it became his star of destiny even after 
being flogged by Dr. Beard for repeating it and being 
told by his uncle Sir Thomas Steward that such 
thoughts were traitorous. Noble says that Crom- 
well mentioned it often when in the height of his 
glory and Clarendon in his History of the Rebellion 
and Civil War in England says that during the delib- 
eration which took place when an offer of the crown 
was made him, they who were near to him said that 
in this perplexity he mentioned his former dream or 
apparition that had first found and promised him this 
high future to which he was already arrived and which 
was generally spoken of even from the beginning of 
the troubles, and when he was not in a position that 
promised such exaltation; and that he then observed, 
it had only declared that he should be the greatest 
man in England and that he should be near to a King, 
which seemed to imply that he should be only near, 
and never actually attain the crown. 




OLIVER CROMWELL 



Memories 77 

where he was married in 1620 to Elizabeth Bour- 
chier. While casting about for employment he 
met Daniel Gookin, with whom he sailed for Vir- 
ginia. After returning to England he married 
and settled in Essex at Braintree, where he re- 
mained until he and his four children, their 
mother being dead, embarked on the Lion. 

My mother before marriage was Elizabeth Stone, 
whom father married in Hartford in 1644. She told 
me that before leaving England he traveled to St. 
Ives, where he visited Oliver Cromwell and asked his 
sister Elizabeth to accompany him to America as 
his wife. She would not come unless the family did, 
and for several years they were expected. Whalley 
told me she never married. It is also well known in 
Connecticut that Oliver Cromwell intended to come 
to New England with John Hampden and others in- 
terested in the Warwick patent, a plot of land hav- 
ing been prepared for them at the mouth of the 
river, now known as Saybrook.^ When on the ship 

' John Morley, in his Oliver Cromwell, says "There 
is no substance in this fable, though so circumstantially 
related; that in 1636 in company with his cousin 
Hampden, despairing of his country, he took passage 
for America and the vessel was stopped by an order 
in council. All probabilities are against it, and there 
is no evidence for it. While it is creditable enough in 
Clarendon's story that five years later, on the day when 
the Grand Remonstrance was passed, Cromwell whis- 
pered to Falkland 'That if the Remonstrance had been 
rejected he would have sold all he had the next morn- 



78 Wadsworth 

they were stopped by an order from the King who 
had reason to repent not letting them go to the wilds 
of America. 

In the war that followed, Oliver Cromwell and 
those associated with him in the Commonwealth, 
did not forget those who had crossed the ocean. 
John Mason was one of the leaders remembered. 
He was offered a major-generalship if he would re- 
turn and enter the Parliamentary army, but he de- 
cided to remain in the colony. Israel Stoughton, 
who commanded the Massachusetts forces in the 
Pequot war, returned and was given a regiment in 

ing and never have seen England more,' and he knew 
there w^ere many other honest men of the same reso- 
lution." (Clarendon's History of Rebellion and Civil 
War in England.) The histories published in the 
eighteenth century refer to this as a fact. Hutchin- 
son in his History of Massachusetts Bay says, "In 
1635 there was a great addition made to the number 
of inhabitants, among others Mr. Vane, afterwards Sir 
Harry Vane, * * * * and many other persons of 
figure and distinction were expected to come over, 
some of which are said to have been prevented by 
express order of the King, as Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden, 
Sir Arthur Hazelrigg, Oliver Cromwell, etc. I know 
that this is questioned by some others, but it appears 
very plainly by a letter from Lord Say and Seal, to 
Mr. Vane and a letter from Mr. Cotton to the same 
nobleman as I take it, although his name is not men- 
tioned, and an answer to certain demands made upon 
him, that his Lordship himself and Lord Brooke and 
others were not without thought of removing to New 
England and that several others persons of quality 
were in treaty about their removal also, but undeter- 
mined whether to join th** Massachusetts colony or to 
settle in a new colony." 



Memories 79 

Cromwell's army, while after peace was established 
and Cromwell was in the saddle Samuel Disborow/ 
one of the founders of Guilford, married Dorothy 
Whitfield, sailed with her father for England and in 
time became Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. 

^ Samuel Disborow was born in the manor at Ettisley 
in Cambridgeshire, November 20, 1619. He was the 
third surviving son of James Disborow, who married 
Jane, sister of Oliver Cromwell, and was one of the 
Judges appointed to try Charles I. Samuel Disborow 
studied law with his brother John, who was a bar- 
rister, before he entered the Parliamentary army. In 
1639 he decided to sail for America and in May of that 
year when two vessels sailed from London, he was on 
board with Henry Whitfield of Ockley, William Leete, 
a London lawyer, and thirty-seven sturdy farmers 
from Kent and Surrey. After a voyage of forty-nine 
days they landed at New Haven and in September of 
that year founded Guilford. In that year Whitfield 
built both for the accommodation of his family and 
as a fortification for the protection of the inhabitants 
against the Indians, what is now known as the "Old 
Stone House of Guilford," supposed to be the oldest 
dwelling house now standing in the United States. 
Samuel Disborow was the first person appointed Mag- 
istrate in Guilford. He retained the office until 1651, 
when after marrying Dorothy Whitfield he sailed for 
England to rise to power with Cromwell. In a short 
time Samuel Disborow became Commissioner of the 
Revenues and member of Parliament for Edinburgh. 
He was then appointed one of the Nine Counsellors 
of the Kingdom of Scotland and soon after keeper of 
the Great Seal of Scotland. After the Restoration he 
accepted the pardon offered by Charles II. to a large 
class of Puritans and by so doing saved for himself 
his manor at Ellsworth, where he died aged seventy- 
five, December 10, 1690. In 1651, Henry Whitfield 
also returned to England, where he became one of the 
Commissioners of the Revenues and in 1655 repre- 
sented the City of Edinburgh in Parliament. 



80 Wadsworth 

THE REGICIDES 



Mention has been made in these pages of the 
King's Judges, Whalley and Goife, both of 
whom died in my brother-in-law's house at 
Hadley, after being secreted there from 1664, 
when they were compelled to leave Milford 
on account of a commission arriving in Bos- 
ton with instructions to find the Regicides, 
both of whom were known to be hiding in the colony 
of New Haven. Having met and conversed with 
both of these men while they were in John Russell's 
house, which also for a time sheltered a third Judge, 
John Dixwell, who eventually went on to New 
Haven, where he lived until 1688, the year James 
n. was driven from the throne and Sir Edmund An- 
dros' government in New England was overthrown, 
I will write what I know of them as well as the 
adventures and trials which they had to contend 
with until death released them from confinement 
and raised the possibility of being arrested for 
treason from the shoulders of those who sheltered 
them. 

Edward Whalley was a merchant when the re- 
bellion broke out in England. Entering the army 
he soon distinguished himself in many battles and 
sieges. At Naseby, where he fought under Crom- 
well, he charged and defeated two divisions of Lang- 



i 



Memories 81 

dale's horse and for which ParHament made him a 
Colonel of horse. He also received the thanks of 
the Parliament for his brilliant action at Banbury 
the following year. When King Charles was de- 
tained at Hampton Court, Whalley had charge of 
him and as near as I can learn permitted him to 
escape in the hope that he would leave England. 
The King fled to the Isle of Wight, where he was 
confined in Carisbrook Castle and was eventually 
taken to London, where he was tried and executed. 

William Goffe was born at Stanmore in Sussex. 
His father was a minister and paid great attention 
to the education of his three sons. Stephen and 
John were sent to the University and as William did 
not develop a fondness for books he was appren- 
ticed to Vaughn, a Salter in London. John became 
a clergyman of the established church and Stephen, 
acted as agent for Charles H. in France, Flanders 
and Holland, turned priest and became chaplain to 
Queen Henrietta Maria. While at Vaughn's, 
William Goffe had ample opportunity to learn of 
the stand which the Parliament was taking against 
the King, and being imbued with the Puritan ideas 
of his father, as well as the martial spirit of the 
times, when the war broke out he entered the army. 

In the camp GoflFe excelled as a prayer maker and 
preacher, while in the field his boldness and skill 
with the sword soon earned promotion. He was 



82 Wadsworth 

one of the first to proclaim that Charles Stuart 
should be brought to account for the blood he had 
shed and when the commission of one hundred and 
thirty judges was appointed to try the king, his 
name was on the list. George Fenwick, who re- 
turned to England from Saybrook the year before, 
was also named as a judge. Of the one hundred 
and thirty selected seventy-four sat in judgment 
and fifty-nine signed the death warrant, Edward 
Whalley's name being fourth, those preceding him 
being John Bradshaw, Thomas Grey and Oliver 
Cromwell. 

When the King came to his own again in 1660, 
according to a journal kept by Goffe and what I 
have learned since his death, twenty-four of the 
Judges, or Regicides as they were designated by the 
Royalists, were dead, twenty-seven were taken, tried 
and convicted, some of them being pardoned, while 
nine, with five others who were prominent in the 
affairs of the Commonwealth, were executed. Six- 
teen fled and escaped. Of the latter, Whalley, Goffe 
and Dixwell died in New England, one shot him- 
self in Holland and one was assassinated. What 
became of the others is unknown. 

Whalley and Goffe sailed from London before 
Charles II. was proclaimed King and arrived in 
Boston July 27, 1660. They were received very 
courteously by Governor Endicott and went on to 



Memories 83 

Cambridge, where they resided while in that vicin- 
ity. Their grave and devout manners commanded 
the respect of all who were aware of the rank they 
sustained under the Commonwealth and toward 
which all of the inhabitants of New England had a 
leaning, while Goffe made all Boston ring with his 
praises by giving a vain fencing master an unmer- 
ciful drubbing. This impudent fellow erected a 
stage near the common and walked it for several 
days challenging any one to play at swords with 
him. Rumors of his boasting reached Cambridge. 
Goffe for a lark disguised himself as a rustic and 
armed with a broom stick, the mop of which he had 
besmeared in a dirty puddle of water, and a cheese 
wrapped in a napkin for a shield, mounted the stage 
and offered to fight him. The fencing master bade 
him begone, but Goffe insisted upon an encounter. 
Aggravated by the cheers of a crowd which gath- 
ered quickly, the fencing master made a pass at him 
with his sword to drive him off. Goffe received 
the sword in the cheese and held it there until he 
drew the mop of the broom across his antagonist's 
mouth. Breaking loose he made another attack only 
to have the sword again stopped in the cheese, while 
the broom was this time drawn over his eyes. At a 
third lunge Goffe stopped him in the same manner, 
while he rubbed the mop all over the boaster's face. 
Exasperated by the treatment, the fencing master 



84 Wadsworth 

dropped his small sword and rushed on Goffe with 
a broadsword, swinging it over his head like a 
Scotchman. Gofife who had nothing but a broom to 
defend himself with, held up his hand and bade him 
stop with so much firmness and determination that 
he stood with the sword in the air. Upon this the 
Judge reminded him that he was only playing with 
him, but that if it came to broadswords he would 
take his life. Dropping his sword the fencing mas- 
ter asked the rustic who he was and as he did not 
receive an answer he said, "You are either Goffe, 
Whalley or the devil, as no other man in England 
could beat me." Goflfe stepped from the stage and 
disappeared, but it was not long before every one 
knew the name of the man who had clipped the 
wings of the boasting fencing master.^ 

The notoriety which GofYe acquired by this per- 
formance attracted the attention of a man named 
Brudan, the captain of a vessel lying in the harbor. 
On his return to London he told where Goffe and 
Whalley were and as soon as the Court learned of it 
steps were taken to apprehend them. In the interval 
the Act of Indemnity was received and as neither of 
them were excepted the Governor was alarmed. He 
called the Court of Assistants together in February 
to consult about securing them, but the Court would 

' History of the Three Judges of Charles I., by Ezra 
Stiles. 



Memories 85 

not agree to it. Finding it unsafe to remain 
longer, Whalley and Goffe left Cambridge on 
February 26, 1661, and arrived at New Haven, 
Harch 7, having stopped at Springfield and Hart- 
ford on the way. A few days after their depart- 
ure a hue and cry was brought by way of Bar- 
badoes and on March 8 a warrant was issued to 
apprehend them. It was sent to Springfield, the 
western boundary of the Massachusetts colony, 
but the Judges were beyond the reach of it. 

Finally on May 7, Governor Endicott gave 
Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk an order to 
make a search for Colonels Goflfe and Whalley. 
They left Boston that night and on May 10 arrived 
at Hartford, where they were informed by Gov- 
ernor Winthrop that the men they were seeking 
had been there, but had gone on to New Haven. The 
following afternoon Kellond and Kirk were at Guil- 
ford, where William Leete,^ the Deputy Governor, 

' William Leete was born in Huntingdonshire, Eng- 
land, in 1613, his home being nine mile from Crom- 
well's, while he was a neighbor of Samuel Disborow, 
with whom he and Henry Whitfield were associated 
in founding Guilford. He was bred to the law and 
while serving as clerk of the Bishop's court at Cam- 
bridge he observed the cruelties to which the Puritans 
were subjected. After examining their doctrine he 
adopted it, resigned office and in 1639, when twenty- 
six years old, sailed for New England. During his 
residence in Guilford he was a party to almost every 
public transaction, being clerk of the town for twenty- 
two years, magistrate from 1651, the years that Dis- 



86 Wadsworth 

resided. Upon their arrival they presented a letter 
from Governor Endicott and a copy of His Majes- 
ty's order to apprehend the Regicides. Leete, who 
was at the time acting Governor of the colony, 
Francis Newman, having died in November of the 
preceding year, read both papers aloud so that every 
one in his store could hear their contents. When 
Kellond and Kirk objected to such a course he told 
them that he had not seen the Colonels for nine 
weeks and that he would not issue an order to search 
and apprehend without consulting the magistrates, 
Matthew Gilbert, Robert Treat and Jasper Crane. 
Both Kellond and Kirk demanded horses to con- 
tinue their journey, but as it was Saturday and the 
sun had set, further action had to remain in abey- 
ance until after the Sabbath. 

borow returned to England, until 1658, when he was 
elected Deputy-Governor of the Colony of New Haven. 
When Governor Newman died William Leete was 
chosen to succeed him and remained in office until 
1664, when the New Haven Colony was united with 
Connecticut. In the Connecticut government he 
served as magistrate from 1664 to 1669, as Deputy- 
Governor from 1669 to 1676, and Governor from 1676 
until his death April 16, 1683. When elected governor 
he removed to Hartford, where he died and was buried 
in the burying ground of the First Church. For over 
forty years his acts as an official met with the ap- 
proval of the freemen he represented. No greater 
tribute could be paid a man. The Regicide incident 
shows him to have been a man of great courage as in 
tacitly favoring the concealment and escape of Whal- 
ley and Goflfe he risked his life and all he owned. 



J 



Memories 87 

In the interval a swift-footed Indian was dis- 
patched to New Haven to warn the Judges as well 
as Rev. John Davenport^ and William Jones,^ who 
had given them shelter from the time of their arri- 
val, except for a day or two, when they walked over 
to Milford in order to make the gossips report that 
they had gone on to Manhadoes (Manhattan) to take 

'John Davenport was born at Coventry, England, 
in 1597. He was educated at Oxford and began preach- 
ing in London in 1616. In 1624 he was appointed 
vicar of St. Stephen. While Bishop of London, Laud 
regarded him with suspicion, and when he became 
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, Davenport fled to 
Holland. While in Amsterdam he formed the idea 
of establishing a colony in New England and in 1636, 
with that object in view, he returned to London. After 
consulting with his former parishioners he prevailed 
upon Samuel Eaton, Theophilus Eaton, Edward Hop- 
kins, Thomas Grigson, and many others of good char- 
acter and fortune, to embark in the enterprise. They 
arrived in Boston June 26, 1637, and after remaining 
there for nine months, while engaged in selecting a 
site for the colony, they sailed, on March 30, 1638, for 
Quinnipiack. In about a fortnight they arrived at the 
desired port, which was named New Haven. John 
Davenport remained there until 1667, when he re- 
turned to Boston. He died March 11, 1670. It was 
Davenport's influence and courage that saved Whal- 
ley and Gofife, while his interest in them may in a 
great measure be attributed to the fact that he was a 
brother-in-law of the Rev. William Hood, who was 
in 1644 ordained reader of the church at New Haven. 
He returned to England and was afterwards a chap- 
lain to Oliver Cromwell. 

'At the time the Regicides were in New Haven, Wil- 
liam Jones was a new comer. He married as a sec- 
ond wife Hannah, the youngest daughter of Gov. Ea- 
ton, in London in 1659, and arrived in New Haven 



Wadsworth 



shipping for Holland. Under receipt of this news 
they slipped out of town and hid in a mill, while on 
the following day John Davenport preached from 
Isaiah XVI, 3 and 4. "Take counsel, execute judg- 
ment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst of 
noonday ; hide the outcasts, betray not him that 
wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; 
Moab, be thou a covet to them from the face of the 
spoiler." 

Before break of day on Monday, John Megges 
came from Guilford and told that the "red coats" 
were after the Judges and that Dennis Scranton had 
told where they were in hiding. Also when Magis- 
trate Matthew Gilbert received notice from Deputy 
Governor Leete, advising him that a meeting would 
be held that day to decide what steps should be 
taken in issuing an order to search and apprehend 
Colonels Whalley and Goflfe, the Marshal, Thomas 
Kimberly, decided to take the bull by the horns and 
seize them as traitors. Knowing that both of them 
had been seen near the neck bridge he rose before 

with his wife in the fall of 1660, when they took 
possession of Governor Eaton's estate and lived in his 
house, which was opposite Mr. Davenport's. The Ea- 
ton house was the finest in New Haven, having nine- 
teen fireplaces and many apartments. The Davenport 
house is described as having thirteen fireplaces and 
many apartments. William Jones was a son of John 
Jones, one of the King's Judges. He was Deputy- 
Governor of Connecticut from 1692 to 1697. 



Memories 89 

the break of day and going there lay in wait. Near 
midday he saw both of them coming towards him. 
Each had a stout staff, but so far as he could see it 
was all that they had to defend themselves with. 
Drawing his sword he rushed out and demanded 
their surrender in the name of King Charles. 
Whalley asked for his authority. Waving his sword 
in front of them, the Marshal told them that it was 
his authority to proceed against traitors. Before he 
had the words out of his mouth Goffe, with nothing 
but a staff, whipped the sword out of Kimberly's 
hand and sent it flying into the water. With a 
threat that he would return to New Haven and se- 
cure sufficient aid to arrest them, Kimberly de- 
parted, while Whalley and Goffe hid under the 
bridge, believing that a searching party would pass 
on instead of making an examination so near the 
scene of the encounter. While lying there they 
heard horses approaching and after they had 
passed over the bridge they saw that the riders 
wore the King's red coats which their old leader, 
Oliver Cromwell, introduced into the English 
army. 

As soon as the riders disappeared on the road to 
New Haven both Whalley and Goffe started 
towards Guilford, skirting the road whenever pos- 
sible or disappearing in the bushes if they saw a 
traveler approaching, and there were not very many 



90 Wadsworth 

of them in those days. At a bend of the road about 
an hour after they left the bridge they saw a horse 
and rider coming. Concealed behind a clump of 
bushes they watched him. As he drew near both 
of them recognized William Leete. BeUeving they 
could trust him they stepped to the side of the road 
and stood uncovered as he passed by. A sad smile 
was their only greeting, but in it they saw safety so 
far as he was concerned and they also felt they 
could trust Jasper Crane of Branford, who soon 
galloped by and joined Leete near the foot of the 
hill. That night both Whalley and Goffe returned 
to New Haven and slept in Governor Eaton's cham- 
ber. 

Deputy Governor Leete and Jasper Crane rode on 
to New Haven, where the Magistrates and the four 
Judges of the New Haven Court convened. For 
five or six hours they were on the point of issuing 
a warrant, and part of it was written when Matthew 
Gilbert and Robert Treat, the Magistrate for Mil- 
ford, arrived and stopped it. They suggested that 
the question be referred to the Assembly, which 
was called and convened within four days. 

When advised that the Deputy-Governor and his 
assistants would take no action in the matter, Kel- 
lond and Kirk expostulated, threatened and even 
went so far as to state that the Judges were hidden 
in either the Davenport or Jones house. This was 



Memories 91 

what Dennis Scranton had told them at Guilford, 
and when they made the statement they were given 
permission to search both houses, which they did 
without finding any traces of the fugitives. As they 
were returning disappointed, an Indian who had 
heard of a reward offered for information, told 
them that both of the Regicides had been seen in 
New Haven that morning (May 14) and that they 
were concealed in the home of Mrs. Eyers,^ who 
had a grand house with four porches, on the creek. 
Kcllond and Kirk went to the house in haste and 
on reaching it found all of the doors open and Mrs. 
Eyers busy in her flower garden. When asked if 
the Regicides were there she answered that they had 
been there, but had gone into the fields and woods. 
Notwithstanding her fine words they insisted on 
searching the house and she allowed them to pro- 
ceed, but they were again unsuccessful. Years after 
it was learned that Whalley and Goffe came to her 
house that morning from Jones's and were concealed 
while the search was being made in a large wains- 
cotted closet in the kitchen. This closet had a door 

* Mrs. Eyers was a daughter of Isaac Allerton, a Bos- 
ton sea captain who settled in New Haven. Her hus- 
band was also a sea captain who sailed up the Medi- 
terranean. Both her father and husband were lost at 
sea, leaving her a young widow with two children. 
She inherited her father's, brother's and husband's es- 
tates. She never married again and died in 1740, be- 
ing over one hundred years old. 



92 Wadsworth 

which AA'hen shut could not be distinguished from 
the wall and all over it on the outside was hung 
the kitchen furniture. 

As soon as Kellond and Kirk departed the Judges 
fled to the woods, where they lay concealed until 
joined by Jones, Burril and Richard Sperry,^ who 
conducted them to the house of the latter on Mr. 
Goodyear's farm behind the West Rock. They 
had been in this asylum only a few hours when the 
red coats of their pursuers were seen coming up a 
long corduroy road which led through a morass. 
Rushing from the house into the woods of the ad- 
joining hill they concealed themselves behind Savin 
Rock. When Kellond and Kirk came to the house 
and asked for the Regicides they were told that they 
had been there, but had gone into the woods. Being 
without authority to search or apprehend they de- 
parted and went on to Manhadoes (Manhatten), 
going from there to Boston by sea. 

Whalley and Gofife slept that night under a bower 
made of bushes and on the following day entered 
the cave on the West Rock, where they remained 

^ Richard Sperry was a farmer brought from Eng- 
land by Mr. Goodyear, a wealthy merchant who had 
purchased from the town of New Haven a farm of 
over a thousand acres and located beyond the West 
Rock. Goodyear built Sperry a house on the place 
and subsequently sold him the farm, which remained 
in the possession of the Sperry family for over a cen- 
tury. 



Memories 93 

until June ii, Richard Sperry supplying them with 
food from his house about a mile away. On the 
night of June ii a panther or catamount put his 
head into the door of the cave and affrighted them 
so that they fled to Sperry's house for shelter. Upon 
their arrival they learned of the report which Kel- 
lond and Kirk had made to Governor Endicott upon 
their return to Boston, and that their friends, the 
Rev. John Davenport, William Jones and William 
Leete, who was on May 29 chosen Governor of the 
colony of New Haven, were in danger of being 
charged with sheltering and aiding in the escape 
of traitors. Upon receipt of this news both of them 
started for New Haven, where after consulting bv 
proxy with Matthew Gilbert, who was then Deputy 
Governor, they sent a messenger to Guilford with 
advice to Governor Leete that they were coming 
there to surrender. Both Davenport and Jones did 
what they could to dissuade them from taking this 
step, and when they were unable to make them 
change their minds they decided to accompany them 
in the hope that something might happen on the 
journe}' to keep them from making the sacrifice. 
At the edge of the town they met their messenger 
returning in company with Dr. Bryan Rossiter.' 
The latter bade Whalley and Goffe go with him, 

' Dr. Bryan Rossiter purchased Samuel Disborow's 
place on October 16, 1651. 



94 Wadsworth 

while their companions proceeded to Governor 
Leete's house and slept there. For nine days the 
Judges remained in Guilford and in all that time 
the Governor refused to see them. During the day 
they were concealed in a stone cellar under Leete's 
store on the bank of the river, their victuals being 
carried to them from the Governor's table. Under 
cover of night they walked to Rossiter's house to 
sleep. 

Finally their friends prevailed on them to recede 
from their determination to surrender and they re- 
turned to New Haven, where after appearing pub- 
licly for three or four days in order to clear Daven- 
port and Jones from the suspicion of sheltering 
them, they returned to the cave on the West Rock, 
wandering about from there to Totoket (Branford), 
Paugasset (Derby) and other places of shelter until 
August 19, when they repaired to Mil ford, where 
one Tomkins had prepared a hiding place for them 
in the center of the town. It was a two story build- 
ing, twenty feet square, located within a few feet 
of Tomkins' house. The lower room was built of 
stone and considered a store room, while the up- 
per room was finished in timber and used as a 
spinning and work room by Tomkins' family. 
Whalley and GoflFe remained in the lower room 
of this building for two years without so much as 
going into the orchard. After that, when the 



Memories 95 

New Haven people had apparently forgotten the 
declaration which the commissioners of the 
United Colonies issued at Hartford, September 5, 
1661, warning all persons not to receive, harbor, 
conceal or succor Whalley or Goffe, they took a 
little more liberty, made themselves known to 
several persons and frequently prayed and 
preached at private meetings in their chamber. 

In 1663 it was reported at the Court of Charles 
n. that Whalley and Goffe were at the head of an 
army in New England and that the union of the 
colonies was believed to have been made for the 
express purpose of throwing off dependence on 
England.^ When Col. Richard Nichols, George 
Cartwright, Sir Robert Carr and Samuel Maverick, 
the Commissioners from King Charles, sailed for 
Boston the following year, they were instructed to 
find the Regicides. Upon the news of their arrival 
and in all probability on advice as to the instruc- 
tions concerning them, Whalley and Goffe returned 
to the cave at West Rock until another asylum 
could be prepared. They had been there but eight 
or ten days when an Indian, while hunting, dis- 
covered their hiding place. The report being spread 
abroad it was not safe to remain there, and on the 
following night, October 13, 1664, Whalley and 
Goffe, after a residence of three years and seven 

* Bancroft's History of the United States. 



96 Wadsworth 

months in New Haven and Milford, turned their 
faces towards Hadley, where John Russell, the min- 
ister of the town founded by the Hartford "With- 
drawers," had previously agreed to receive them. 
That night they traveled twenty miles, stopping 
for the day in the woods near the ford over a brook 
on the road to Hartford. They called the place 
Pilgrim's Harbor,^ and it is still known by that 
name. Before night they were joined by a guide 
with horses. He conducted them to Hartford, where 
after resting a day in John Talcott's house,- they 
proceeded to Springfield, and from there to Hadley, 
where both of them died and were buried in the 
minister's cellar. 

February lo, 1664-5, John Dixwell, who was also 
a King's Judge, came to the Russell house and re- 
mained there with Whalley and Goffe until after 
the King's Commissioners had made their report. 
He then removed to New Haven, where under the 
assumed name of James Daniels he settled with a 
fam.ily named Ling, was twice married, raised a 
famil)', and died in 1688, aged eighty-two. He was 
never molested. Two or three years before Dix- 
well's death, while attending public worship in New 
Haven, Sir Edmund Andros, who was at that time 

' Pilgrim's Harbor is located in the town of Meriden. 
^This house stood at the corner of Main and Tal- 
cott Streets. It was torn down in 1900. 



Memories 97 

Governor of New York, saw him and after meeting 
asked who he was. Upon being informed that he 
was a merchant, Andros replied that he 
was not and became very inquisitive. Nothing more 
was heard of the matter, as the venerable gentleman 
was not seen at the meeting in the afternoon, and 
Sir Edmund was so exasperated by one of the 
psalms sung by the congregation that he no doubt 
forgot all about him.^ 

About ten years after Whalley and Goffe removed 
to Hadley, the former began to fail both mentally 

^ At this meeting the deacon gave out the Fifty- 
second Psalm to sing in Sternbold's and Hopkins' ver- 
sion, which began 

Why dost thou, tyrant, boast abroad, 

Thj' wicked works of praise? 
Dost thou not knov/ there is a God, 

Whose mercy lasts always? 

Why dost thy mind still devise 

Such wicked wiles to harp? 
Thy tongue, untrue, in forging lies, 

Is like a razor sharp. 

Thou dost delight in fraud and guile, 

In mischief, blood and wrong; 
Thy lips have learned the flattering style, 

Of false, deceitful tongue! 

Governor Andros felt it as an intended insult to 
himself, and after meeting resented it as such, and rep- 
rehended the deacon for it. But being told that it 
was the usage of the church to sing the Psalms in 
course, he excused the deacon and let the matter 
drop. — Stiles' History of the Judges. 



98 Wadsworth 

and physically. At the time of the King Philip war 
he had lost all interest in worldly affairs and was 
almost constantly confined to his bed. Goffe nursed 
and humored him, doing all that he could to make 
the last days of his companion in fortune and ad- 
versity comfortable, and while he remained vigorous 
and as cheerful as a man could under such con- 
ditions, he frequently complained of being banished 
from the world in which he had been so conspicuous 
a figure, and to the last clung to the hope that his 
friends in England would eventually secure a par- 
don. It was that ray of hope and the memory of 
his wife and family at home which kept Goffe from 
leaving Hadley after Whalley died. 

In the sixteen years that Goffe was under John 
Russell's roof he was never seen in public but once, 
and on that occasion his appearance was so unex- 
pected and his exit so guarded that the people whose 
lives were saved by his skill looked upon the mys- 
terious stranger as an angel instead of a man whose 
life and the lives of all who sheltered him, together 
with all they possessed, would have been forfeited 
to the crown had it been known. It was on Fast 
Day in 1675 that Goffe saved Hadley. While the 
people were attending public worship the town was 
surrounded by a body of Indians. The attack was 
so sudden and unexpected that everything was in 
confusion before the meeting: house guard could 



Memories 99 

rally those who had brought arms with them. Sud-- 
denly a venerable man, whose apparel and manner 
differed from the rest of the people, appeared in 
their midst, took command, arranged them in the 
best military manner and routed the Indians. The 
town was saved, and while the Hadley forces were 
pursuing the assailants the leader disappeared as 
mysteriously as he came. Of all who saw him, 
the minister, John Russell, alone knew to whom 
they owed their homes and their lives. 

In the spring of 1679, Whalley having been dead 
some time, Goffe came down the river to Hartford, 
intending to go on to New Haven and Milford for 
a brief period. While here he was concealed in the 
house of Joseph Bull and was visited by myself 
and a few others who were in the secret. Through 
a servant, his presence became known to one John 
London, of Windsor, who in the hope of reward 
associated himself with several others and decided 
to seize him in the King's name. Thomas Powell 
overheard them discussing their plans and informed 
Major Talcott. He recommended that Goffe return 
to Hadley, which he did, and Captain Allyn forbade 
London to leave the town without a license. This 
unexpected discovery made an old man of Goffe. 
He saw that after nineteen years he was still in 
peril. After his return to Hadley he was seized 
with a fit of melancholy, under which he sickened 

LofC. 



100 Wadsworth 

and died early in the following year. London also 
disappeared and nothing more was heard of him 
or his threats until the following spring, when Sir 
Edmund Andros wrote Governor Leete^ that he had 
learned from depositions taken in New York that 
Colonel Goffe, the Regicide, was concealed in Hart- 
ford by Captain Joseph Bull and his sons. Upon 
receipt of this advice John Allyn commanded the 
constables to make diligent search in the houses, 
barns and outhouses of Captain Bull and his sons. 
No such person was found, Goffe having returned 
to Hadley over a year before and was so far as I 
know dead at the time the notice was received. 

* For correspondence see Colonial Records of Con- 
necticut covering years 1678- 1689, pages 283 to 285. 



THE CHARTER OAK 



THE CHARTER OAK 



George Wyllys was the third Governor of Con- 
necticut and the first of that name in New England. 
Being a Puritan, he decided in 1637 to leave Eng- 
land, and in order to make a home for himself in 
the New World before leaving the family mansion 
at Fenney Compton, at Knapton, in the county of 
Warwick, he sent his steward, William Gibbons, 
with twenty men and the frame of a house, to select 
a site in the town which the Hooker company had 
started in the Connecticut valley. For about two 
years William Gibbons and the men in his employ 
were busy felling trees, building and preparing the 
soil for the seed on the home lot assigned George 
Wyllys. It was on the south bank of the Little 
River, running back from the top of the hill upon 
which but one tree was permitted to remain stand- 
ing. It was a gnarled oak with a hole in one side 
of it, and that tree still stands^ on the brow of the 
hill by the road leading down to the South Meadows. 

•'The Charter Oak fell August 21, 1856. A marble 
tablet has been inserted in a brick wall on Charter 
Oak Avenue to designate the place where it stood. 
All of the wood and bark were preserved, being made 
into chairs, small tables, picture frames, etc., and Ex- 
Governor Morgan G. Bulkeley tells me that there is 
somewhere in Hartford a piano made of the wood of 
the Charter Oak. 



104 IVadsworth 

The Suckiag Indians, who were here when what 
they called the big canoes with white wings were 
first seen on the river, and from whom the Hooker 
company purchased the site of Hartford, asked Will- 
iam Gibbons to spare it, as in addition to being a 
landmark the oak was the peace tree of the tribe. 

The sachem Sequassen said that the tree was 
planted by the great sachem who led his people 
from the land of the setting sun as a pledge of per- 
petual peace with those whom they found here and 
from whom they received the land. At the planting 
their tomahawks^ were buried under it and the acorn 
adopted as their totem. For centuries the Suckiag 
Indians lived in peace, fishing in the great river and 
its branches and hunting in the forest, while the 
squaws and the old men planted the com and beans 
which Kiehtan sent them from the southwest. Ac- 
cording to the Indian tradition, the corn'' was 

* The English, when adopting the name of the Indian 
hatchet, called it tom-my-hawk. The Indians say 
tume-hegan, the e being short, and scarcely sounded, 
with the short sound of a and the h has a full aspirate 
as hee. The gn is sounded short. This word is com- 
pounded of the Indian verb tume-ta-mun, to cut, and 
the noun begun, a sharp cutting instrument. In com- 
pounding this word half of the verb is clipped off and 
joined with the noun. 

' The Southern Indians have the following tradi- 
tion concerning the origin of corn, beans and tobacco: 
"Two youths, while pursuing the pleasures of the 
chase, were led to an unfrequented part of the forest, 
where, being fatigued and hungry, they sat down to 



The Charter Oak 105 

brought by the sacred blackbird and the bean by the 
crow, the former being first seen in the slender 
branches of the peace tree when the leaves were the 
size of a mouse's ear, and by this they fixed the time 
for placing the com in the ground. 

As the generations of Indians were gathered to 
their long sleep, the oak increased in size and was 
known as a landmark and meeting place for all the 
tribes on the river. In the fourth generation before 
the coming of the white man, Wawanda, the sach- 
em's favorite wife, bore him male twins, and in the 
year of their birth a sprout appeared on the north- 
east side of the oak. It was permitted to remain, 
and as the boys, who were named Saweg and No- 
washe, each of them being given a portion of their 

rest themselves and to dress their victuals. While 
they were in this employ the spirit of the woods, at- 
tracted by the savory smell of the venison, approached 
them in the form of a beautiful female and seated her- 
self beside them. The youths, awed by the presence 
of so superior a being, presented to her in the most 
respectful manner a share of their repast, which she 
was pleased to accept, and eat with satisfaction. The 
repast being finished, the female spirit informed them 
that if they would return to the same place after the 
revolution of twelve moons they would find something 
which would recompense their kindness, disappeared 
from sight. The youths returned at the appointed 
time and found that upon the place on which the right 
arm of the goddess had reclined a stalk of corn had 
sprung up; under her left, a stalk of beans, and from 
the spot on which she had been seated was growing 
a flourishing plant of tobacco." 



106 Wadsworth 

father's name, Sawashe, grew in years, the sprout 
became a twig and finally a branch as large as a 
man's arm. In this limb the powwows and a few of 
the sagamores saw the sign of a split in the tribe. 
At different times they urged its removal, but Sa- 
washe, proud of the skill and rugged strength of 
the twin brothers, although they were almost oppo- 
sites in disposition, would never consent, as he be- 
lieved that the great father Kiehtan^ placed it there 

'The Connecticut Indians believed in one great and 
invisible Deity, who was known in the different tribes 
as Kiehtan, Woonand and Cantantowit. The Indians 
placed the dwelling of Kiehtan in the southwest be- 
cause the wind from that quarter is the warmest and 
pleasantest that blows in this climate and usually 
brings fair weather. They also believed that the soul 
existed after death and that the spirits of the good 
would go to the house of Kiehtan. Then they would 
be delivered from sorrow and enjoy pleasures similar 
to those which they had indulged in here, only in 
abundance and in perfection. They also believed that 
the wicked would go to the door of Kiehtan and 
knock for admittance; but upon his telling them to go 
away, they would be obliged to wander forever in a 
state of horror and discontent. The Narragansett In- 
dians believed that Cantantowit made a man and 
woman of stone, but not liking them he broke them 
to pieces and made another pair of wood, from whom 
all human beings were descended. Another tribe, when 
questioned as to their creation, said that two squaws 
were once wading in the sea; the foam touched their 
bodies and they became pregnant; one brought forth 
a boy and the other a girl; the two squaws then died 
and their children became the progenitors of the hu- 
man race. — Massachusetts Historical Collections, Vol. 
III., and De Forest's History of Indians of Connecti- 
cut. 



The Charter Oak 107 

to show that another branch had been added to the 
tribes which had lived for so many years on the 
bank of the great river and that they would flourish 
under the protection of the Mohawks so long as it 
retained life. Saweg was the elder of the twins, 
and from an early age he was noted for his even 
temper and deliberate methods. The old men of 
the tribe gave him their confidence, while they 
looked with distrust upon Nowashe, who was im- 
pulsive and fearless and also the acknowledged 
leader of all the young men. 

A few years after Saweg and Nowashe were 
born, the Mohawks swept over the Connecticut val- 
ley like a storm cloud, destroying or exacting tribute 
from all who lay in their path. Sawashe heard of 
their coming, and knowing that the hearts of his 
warriors had grown soft after years of peace, bade 
his sagamores carry presents of wampum and offer 
tribute to the Mohawks if they were permitted to 
remain undisturbed in their villages and among 
their cornfields. The offer was accepted, while the 
tribes that resisted were conquered or destroyed. 
From that period until the coming of the white 
man, every year two old Mohawks might be seen 
going from village to village to collect tribute and 
issue orders from the council at Onondaga. To the 
tribes living on the Connecticut River this tribute 
in wampum did not prove a burden, as Long Island 



108 Wadsworth 

was then and for many years thereafter known as 
the land of shells (Sewan Hacky). During the 
summer months the canoes crossed the Sound and 
returned loaded with conches and mussels which 
the squaws and arrowhead makers fashioned into 
wampum, white and purple, during the winter 
months. 

To Saweg, the visit of the Mohawks was a re- 
minder of a greater and fiercer race of men, and 
with the knowledge that he would in time be sachem 
of his tribe, he steeled himself to bear without bit- 
terness the boasts and petty insults which were at 
times cast upon them by those who came to collect 
tribute. As a boy, Nowashe sat at their feet and 
heard with delight the sayings of the strangers as 
they glowed with danger and daring, but when he 
arrived at an age to learn that his own people, as 
well as his own father and mother, were among 
those who had been humbled by the Mohawks his 
heart was pierced with Hobbamocko's^ black arrow 
of revenge and from that time his one thought was 
how he could free the world of the hated Mohawks 
or get beyond their power. He had learned that 

^ Hobbamocko was the spirit of evil, the author of 
all plagues and calamities. From the fear that his 
malignant disposition inspired he received great ven- 
eration. Many dances v^^ere performed in his honor, 
and many sacrifices made to appease his wrath. 



>. ^t , ^^^ 







THE CHARTER OAK IN iSio 



The Charter Oak 111 

the field of their triumphs extended from the father 
of waters to the inland seas and the falling waters,* 
that all who obeyed them and paid tribute were at 
peace and all who resisted were hunted like the deer 
in autumn. To obey meant humble comforts, to 
rebel, death. 

This was the state of affairs in the tribe dwelling 
under the shadow of the peace tree on the banks 
of the Little River, when Sawashe died and Saweg 
was named sachem, regardless of the protests of 
Nowashe, who claimed that being of one birth they 
should rule jointly until one died. In this conten- 
tion he was supported by his mother and the young 
men of the tribe, but the sagamores shook their 
heads and said that Saweg was the older son and 
in the event of his death Saweg's son and not No- 
washe would be sachem. There was no appeal, as 
the Mohawks knew that Saweg would succeed his 
father and he had also sent a runner to Onondaga 
with presents of purple wampum and advice of Sa- 
washe's death. 

Nowashe and those who supported him in his 
claim remained silent until the Mohawks made their 
next visit. It was in the summer when the corn 
was beginning to grow hard and as they sat with 
Saweg and his council under the old oak smoking 

* Niagara Falls. 



1 12 Wadsworth 

the peace pipe, Novvashe approached. The Mo- 
hawks bade him enter the circle, but instead of 
doing so he cast a bundle of arrows in front of 
them and said "this is the tribute of Nowashe." 
The older Mohawk raised the arrows from the 
ground and drawing one from the thong which held 
them together broke it and threw the pieces outside 
of the circle, while Saweg did what he could to con- 
vince the tribute collectors that the tribe was not 
responsible for his brother's act. Nowashe remained 
standing with his arms crossed on his breast, and 
when his brother demanded an explanation for his 
hostile act he turned towards the Mohawks and 
pointing towards the remaining arrows said, "Let 
my words and tribute sink into your hearts," and 
walked away. 

The Mohawks departed to all appearances satis- 
fied with Saweg's explanations and nothing more 
was heard of the incident until it was noticed that 
the leaves on the branch of the peace tree were 
withering. An examination showed that the limb 
had been girdled near the trunk, while on the same 
day Saweg learned from a young man who had 
been down to Rocky Hill that Nowashe, who had 
reported that he and his friends were going on a 
big hunt, had spoken with a forked tongue, as they 
were building a fort on the top of a precipitous hill 



The Charter Oak 113 

near the Roaring Brook which runs through what 
is now known as Glassenbury.^ 

Saweg sent his father's brother, the oldest and 
wisest man in the tribe, to remonstrate with No- 
washe and to remind him that their land did not 
extend beyond the great river, but Nowashe re- 
fused to talk with him. He then sent his mother 
and when she failed to return he went himself and 
as sachem demanded obedience. In reply to Sa- 
weg's orders Nowashe appeared and said that his 
young men and their squaws had no wampum for 
the Mohawks and that they had resolved to with- 
draw from Saweg's tribe, build a fort, defend them- 
selves in the position which they had selected and 
maintain their right to hunt in the forest on the side 
of the great river on which they were located. Sa- 
weg pleaded long and earnestly with his brother 
and when after many talks he found that his advice 
was rejected he withdrew, but not before he re- 
minded Nowashe and his young men that the Mo- 
hawks were brave warriors, that their number was 
like the leaves of the forest and that with his small 

'The founders of this town having come from the 
neighborhood of Glastonbury, England, the General 
Court, in 1692, with a disregard for spelling, named 
the town Glassenbury. This method of spelling the 
name of the town continued to be used until about 
1780, when it was changed to Glastenbury and so writ- 
ten until 1870, when the town voted to make it Glas- 
tonbury, by which name it is now known. 



114 Wadsworth 

force resistance would in the end mean death for 
all of them. The brothers parted in anger, Nowashe 
boasting that he would fight and kill all the Mo- 
hawks that could be sent against him, while Saweg 
and his sagamores, having a knowledge of what 
had happened in the past, returned to their villages 
in silence. 

For two com plantings Nowashe and his forces 
remained undisturbed. During that period rocks 
and logs had been carried up the hill and laid within 
the palisades of the fort so that they could be rolled 
down upon any force which might attack it. They 
also built a village at the foot of the hill, planted 
com and beans, fished in the river and hunted in 
the forest. In that time the Mohawks' tribute col- 
lectors made their regular visits, received the wam- 
pum expected of Saweg's tribe and went on their 
way to other villages just as though Nowashe and 
his fort existed only in his imagination instead of 
being a stem reality on the opposite bank of the 
Connecticut River. 

On the other hand Nowashe knew that the pro- 
longed silence on the part of the Mohawks could 
not be construed as indifiference on their part, as 
the council at Onondaga was well advised of what 
he had done and was either engaged in greater en- 
terprises or waiting until time would give his young 
warriors a careless sense of security, which would 



The Charter Oak 115 

present an opportunity to attack them when off their 
guard or when a majority of them were away on a 
hunt. By spies and friends in the villages between 
the two great rivers, Nowashe was constantly ad- 
vised of the Mohawks' movements and when the 
second leaves were falling on his wigwam, he 
learned that the Mohawks were coming. Upon re- 
ceipt of this advice the whole tribe, including wom- 
en and children, were gathered within the fort and 
on the following day they saw the Mohawks cross- 
ing the river in canoes belonging to Saweg's tribe. 

Knowing that Nowashe had a small force and 
confident of success, the Mohawks proceeded against 
the fort as soon as all of their warriors had disem- 
barked. With a yell that had chilled the blood of 
so many of their enemies they rushed up the hill 
to be met not with a cloud of arrows as they ex- 
pected, but by huge logs and rocks which as they 
bounded from ridge to ridge tore holes in their 
ranks and killed and maimed a number of their bold- 
est warriors. Gathering up their dead and wounded 
they retired to the village and burned it. Three 
times on successive days they returned to the at- 
tack, but with no better success. 

When the morning of the fourth day dawned 
they had disappeared, a few of Saweg's canoes on 
the river bank and three or four dead Indians on 
the side of the hill being all that was left, aside 



116 Wadsworth 

from the ashes where the village stood, to remind 
Nowashe and his followers of the visit of the Mo- 
hawks. Later in the day it was learned from the 
trail that the attacking force had gone up the river 
and a small number were dispatched to follow them. 
A week passed without anything being heard from 
the enemy or those who were watching them. Be- 
lieving that they had returned home, a number of 
the women and children came down from the fort 
and were soon busy gathering material for new 
wigwams, while Nowashe, after sending the heads 
and hands of the dead Mohawks to his brother as 
an evidence of his prowess, joined with the pow- 
wows in the dances of victory. 

The Mohawks followed the bank of the river to 
the falls which are above the point where William 
Pyncheon built his warehouse, and remained there 
for a number of days in order to give the wounded 
time to recover from their injuries. Knowing that 
they were being watched by the Nowashe scouts 
they did what they could to convey the impression 
that they were going to return to their own people, 
the whole body crossing the river by the ford, which 
can still be located below the point, and marching 
rapidly inland. For two days they continued, but 
on the night of the third those who had escaped 
injury in the attacks on the forts left the wounded, 
who were now able to travel and protect themselves 



The Charter Oak 117 

if attacked, and turned towards the Connecticut 
River. Evading the Nowashe scouts, they again 
crossed the river at the ford^ and disappeared in a 
southeasterly direction. 

The Nowashe scouts also returned and after 
crossing the ford struck the new trail made by the 
Mohawks. They followed it until they came to the 
head waters of Roaring Brook, near Minachaug 
mountain. Here all traces ceased. Turning their 
faces towards the Connecticut River they followed 
the stream which they knew led to their fort. Si- 

' The ford referred to is opposite Windsor Locks. 
The late Jabez Haskell Hayden, in his Historical 
Sketches, devotes a chapter to "The old fording place 
opposite Windsor Locks." He says "Very many years 
ago, doubtless more than two hundred, this fording 
place, the only one in the colony, was discovered, and 
used even after the opening of the ferry in 1783." 
Writing in 1900 (the old gentleman died in 1903) he 
said "The last time I crossed the ford was more than 
thirty years ago, when I was induced to go by two 
little boys of about ten years growth, who wanted to 
wade across the Connecticut River just once. The 
water was very low, and taking the hand of each we 
entered the ford below the mouth of Kettle Brook 
and easily waded to the point, where we made directly 
for the 'Old Horse Pasture.' Then we crossed the 
channel, where the water was so deep and the cur- 
rent so strong the boys would hardly have kept their 
feet under them if they had not clung to me. We 
crossed to the other side and returned in safety, but 
I could not have been induced to try the same feat 
again." The "Old Horse Pasture" is an island which 
appears in the river at low water and between which 
and the east shore is the deep water where Mr. Pyn- 
chon anchored his sea-going vessel in 1636. 



118 Wadsworth 

lently and swiftly they made their way through the 
rough country drained by the Roaring Brook, being 
awed by the disappearance of the broad trail which 
led them to the Minachaug mountain, and eager to 
report the fact to Nowashe. As they approached 
the river from the top of a hill they saw a great 
smoke and in a short time they met a few squaws 
and children running for their lives. From them 
they learned that the Mohawks had returned, taken 
and burned the fort and killed everyone in it, No- 
washe being one of the last to fall in the terrible 
slaughter. 

Subsequent events showed that the Mohawks had 
entered the Roaring Brook at the place where the 
trail disappeared and waded down the entire dis- 
tance to near the fort. Nowashe and his people 
were surprised, many of them being killed before 
they could seek the shelter of the fort and when 
they did get within the palisades the enemy was on 
them before the logs and stones, of which they had 
a great quantity, could be hurled down upon them. 
All of the fighting men of the tribe, as well as many 
of the squaws and grown children who mixed in 
the melee, were killed. The few who remained, 
together with those who were absent from the vil- 
lage, were granted their lives upon payment of trib- 
ute in wampum, the greater portion of which was 
advanced by Saweg, who interceded for the unfor- 



The Charter Oak 119 

tunate followers of his brother. The Mohawks 
also required them to build another village between 
the Podunk and the Scantic and almost opposite the 
cornfields and a small village^ of Saweg's tribe. 
They remained in this place until they sold the 
lands to the Windsor plantation in 1636. 

This little band was always referred to as the 
Nowashe Indians, the name of their first sachem 
being adopted by them, but after the sale of their 
lands the tribe lost its identity and was absorbed 
by the Podunks and Mohegans. It may also be 
added that it was opposite the Nowashe village, 
which was then surrounded by palisades, that Adra- 
ien Block cast anchor when he sailed up the river 
in the Restless and named it de Versche Reviere 
(the Fresh River) in 1814, and upon whose right 
of discovery and a subsequent purchase from the 
Pequots the Dutch laid claim to the Connecticut 
valley. 

None of the river Indians ever forgot the deter- 
mined manner in which the Mohawks stamped out 
the spirit of resistance shown by Nowashe and his 
followers, and from that day until long after the 
white man controlled the colony of Connecticut 
many a squaw and white woman as well subdued 

' The village referred to was located at what is now 
known as Wilson's, a small station on the New York 
and New Haven R. R., about two miles north of Hart- 
ford. 



120 Wadsworth 

a rebellious child by saying "the Mohawks are com- 
ing."^ That the fear of the Mohawks was not con- 
fined only to women and children was shown in 
1656, when Uncas and Sequassen had a quarrel 
with Tontonimo, a Podunk sachem. The latter re- 
fused to surrender a young man named Weass- 
apano who had murdered a sagamore living near 

^ Tradition tells of a brave tribe of aborigines which 
occupied a position a little south of the centre of Glas- 
tonbury, known by the name of the Red Hill Indians. 
They were a branch of the Pequots, and between them 
and the Mohawks there were unsparing and relentless 
hostilities. The Red Hills had a fort on a very pre- 
cipitous hill, which was strongly fortified on the east; 
but towards the river, on the west, the besieged relied 
principally on large logs and stones, which they rolled 
down upon their enemies, if they attempted to ascend 
the eminence. Spies and friendly Indians informed the 
Red Hills of the advance of their enemies, who imme- 
diately gathered their women and children within the 
fort; and, on several occasions, made a gallant defence, 
repelling the Mohawks with great loss. At length the 
Mohawks, whose numbers far exceeded those of the 
Red Hills, and who had usually made their most des- 
perate effort by trying to ascend the hill, resorted to 
stratagem.. Word came to the Red Hills that the "Mo- 
hawks v/ere coming," and they hastily gathered their 
little tribe within the fort. But the Mohawks did not 
make their appearance, and, after waiting for some 
time in vain, the Red Hills despatched a small number 
up the river, for the purpose of reconnoitering. Near 
the upper part of East Windsor or Enfield, the party 
struck upon a trail, which they followed in a south- 
easterly direction until they came to the head waters 
of Roaring Brook, near Minachaug mountain. Here 
all traces ceased. No trail, nor track, nor scent could 
be found. Subsequently events showed that the Mo- 



The Charter Oak 121 

Mattabesett.^ The three sachems submitted their 
differences to the English, and when Governor 
Webster supposed that Tontonimo would surrender 
the murderer, the latter returned to the Podunk 
fort and sent a messenger who said that Weasse- 
apano had so many friends that he could not sur- 
render him. Finally the English decided that they 
would not trouble themselves with the Indians' 
quarrel and gave Uncas and Sequassen to under- 
stand that they could follow their own counsel. 
Taking advantage of this advice Uncas assembled 
a war party and marched against the Podunks. He 
met them near the Hockanum River and as their 
forces were about equal Uncas was unwilling to 
fight, but before retreating sent a message to tell 
Tontonimo that if he continued to shelter the mur- 

hawks had at this place entered the stream, and, that 
they might not be traced, had waded down the entire 
distance to near the mouth, where were the fort and 
village of the Red Hills. The scheme was successful. 
The hapless Red Hills were surprised and experienced 
more than savage vengeance. The Mohawks spared 
not one of the race. This horrid butchery is said to 
have taken place about the period when the first set- 
tlers emigrated to Connecticut. Although the whites 
had no part in this tragedy, the bloody legend was re- 
membered and told; and the forward child was often 
subdued by the terrific exclamation, "the Mohawks 
are coming." — Barber's Connecticut Historical Collec- 
tions. 

' Middletown. 



122 Wadsworth 

derer he would bring the Mohawks and destroy 
both him and his people. 

A few weeks later the wily Mohegan sent a war- 
rior supplied with Mohawk weapons to the Podunk 
country where he set fire to a wigwam near the fort 
and escaped, leaving his arms. In the morning, 
when the Podunks came out of the fort to examine 
the ruins and look for the trail of the destroyer, 
they found the weapons which they knew by their 
make and ornaments must have been fashioned by 
a Mohawk. Believing that Uncas had succeeded 
in fulfilling his threat and blinded with terror, with- 
out making any inquiry, Tontonimo surrendered 
Weassapano and asked for peace.^ It was granted, 
and from that time the Podunks remained undis- 
turbed until after the King Philip war, in which a 
majority of their warriors were slain.^ When King 
Philip was shot, the remnant of the Podunk tribe 
was scattered, many of them joining the Pequots, 
while a few crossed the river and allied themselves 
with the Suckiag, Poquonoc and Tunxis Indians. 
As the land which they occcupied was vacated it was 
parcelled out to those who had taken an active part 

* Trumbull's History of Connecticut and De Forest's 
History of the Indians of Connecticut. 

^ The Podunk tribe in King Philip's war contained 
between two and three hundred men, who went of? in 
that war and never returned. — Massachusetts Histori- 
cal Collections, Vol. 4. 



The Charter Oak 123 

in the war, my reward being three hundred and 
forty acres^ in the great swamp and which I after- 
wards sold to Lieutenant John Ellsworth, who was 
killed on the place by a tree falling on him. 

After the defeat and death of Nowashe the Mo- 
hawks remained with Saweg's tribe for several days, 
celebrating their victory and at the same time giving 
the wounded an opportunity to recover before start- 
ing on the march to Onondaga. During this period 
the sagamores and powwows of the tribe met under 
the oak and in the presence of the Mohawks re- 
moved the dead limb from the peace tree, charring 

^The plot of land referred to is located in the town 
of Ellington, which was originally a part of the town- 
ship of East Windsor. The following is from the or- 
iginal record: "Land surveyed to Daniel and John 
Ellsworth, sons of Lieutenant John Ellsworth of Wind- 
sor, by Thomas Kimberly, surveyor of land in the 
County of Hartford, i6th of March, 1720, five hundred 
and forty acres of land between the mountains east of 
Windsor and Connecticut River, at a place called by 
the English 'the great marsh' and by the Indians 
Weaxkashuck, three hundred and forty acres bought 
of Captain Wadsworth and two hundred acres bought 
of the Bissels by said Lieutenant John Ellsworth, be- 
gan at a pine tree marked and having two mere stones 
by it, standing on the plains near the northwest cor- 
ner of said marsh, etc." Barber, in his Historical Col- 
lections of Connecticut, says that on a stone a little 
distance northwest from the residence of Samuel 
Chapman, who lived on this land when the book re- 
ferred to was published in 1836, the following inscrip- 
tion appears: "Lieut. John Ellsworth was killed here 
by the fall of a tree Oct. 26th, 1720, aged 49 years and 
15 days." 



124 Wadsworth 

it near the trunk with fire and reducing it to ashes 
as soon as it fell. This limb, as has been stated, 
was on the northeast side of the tree and in the 
years which followed, the rain and the snow, rein- 
forced by the heat and the frost, caused the balance 
of the branch to decay and make a hole in the side 
of the oak. 

In those years the sachemship of the tribe de- 
scended from Saweg to his son, who was in time 
succeeded by Sowheag, the father of Sequassen, 
the leader of the Suckiag Indians when the white 
man came to the Connecticut valley. Having been 
defeated by the Pequots, from whom the Dutch 
traders had purchased a title to a portion of the 
land occupied by his tribe, he hailed the coming of 
the Hooker company with delight and sold its mem- 
bers the site of Hartford for a few coats, blankets, 
knives and hoes. The transfer was made under 
the old oak on what was afterwards the Wyllys 
home lot, Elder William Goodwin and my uncle, 
Samuel Stone, acting for the English, and Sequas- 
sen, who signed the deed with an acorn totem, 
acted for the Suckiag tribe, all of his sagamores 
being present and giving their consent to the trans- 
fer. 

After the deed had been signed a twig and a 
piece of turf were handed Sequassen by one of the 
sagamores. He stuck the twig in the turf and 



The Charter Oak 125 

placed both in Elder Goodwin's hands. By this 
ceremony he considered himself to have passed over 
to the English the soil and all that grew on it. This 
was the Indians' last meeting under the tribe's peace 
tree, and except when they asked William Gibbons 
to spare it, the old oak^ did not attract very much 

'The Political Annals of the United Colonies from 
the Settlement to the Peace of 1763 by George Chal- 
mers and published in London in 1780 contains the first 
mention of hiding the Connecticut Charter in a tree. 
He says that "Connecticut with the other colonies con- 
gratulated James II. on his accession to the throne, 
acknowledge his authority and begged for protection 
of their chartered privileges. He received the com- 
pliment with satisfaction, though he had already de- 
cided what course he should pursue with regard to 
colonial policy. Various articles of Misdemeanor were 
exhibited, in July, 1685, against the Governor and 
Company, before the lord commissioners of colonies, 
impeaching them of making laws contrary to those of 
England; of extorting unreasonable fines; of intoler- 
ance in religion; of denials of justice. These various 
accusations which were supposed to infer a forfeiture 
of the Charter, were instantly sent to Sawyer, attorney 
general, with orders to issue a writ of quo warranto 
forthwith against the colony. He obeyed and Ran- 
dolph, who had acted as a public accuser, now offered 
his services to carry it beyond the Atlantic. The Gov- 
ernor and Company had for some time seen the storm 
approaching which threatened to lay their beloved 
system in the dust; and they endeavored with great 
address, to elude the force of what they were unable 
to resist. When they remembered the fatal accident 
which had formerly bereaved them of their ancient 
conveyance, they carefully concealed the Charter in a 
venerable elm which to this day is deemed sacred as 
the preserver of their constitution." That Chalmers re- 
ceived this item from the Rev. Samuel Peters, who was 



126 Wadsworth 

attention until after the overthrow of the Andres 

government. Mistress Ruth Wyllys was bold enough 

to say that I hid the charter in it the night that it 

disappeared from the council chamber. 

then in London, is evidenced by the following sentence 
from Peters' General History of Connecticut which was 
published in 1781. "They have represented the Magis- 
trates of Connecticut as not having resigned their 
Charter, but by an erroneous construction put on their 
humble supplication to James II. by the Court of Lon- 
don: whereas the fact is, they resigned it, in propria 
forma, into the hands of Sir Edmund Andros, at Hart- 
ford in October, 1687, and were annexed to the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony in preference to New York, ac- 
cording to royal promise and their own petition. But 
the very night of the surrender of it, Samuel Wads- 
worth, of Hartford, with the assistance of a mob, vio- 
lently broke into the apartments of Sir Edmund, re- 
gained, carried ofif, and hid the charter in the hollow 
elm." Further on in the same work, when enumerating 
the curiosities in Hartford, he refers to "an elm, es- 
teemed sacred, for being the tree in which their Char- 
ter was concealed." The substitution of an elm for an 
oak in Peters' history will not surprise anyone who has 
read the work published by that worthy divine, who 
was forced to flee from Lebanon and eventually left 
the country on account of his tory principles. In a 
geography published in 1789 Jedidiah Morse wrote: 
"In 1684, the charters of Massachusetts Bay and Ply- 
mouth were taken away in consequence of quo war- 
rantos which had been issued against them. The char- 
ter of Connecticut would have shared the same fate, 
had it not been for Wadsworth, Esq., who hav- 
ing very artfully procured it when it was on the point 
of being delivered up, buried it under an oak tree in 
Hartford, where it remained until all danger was over, 
and then was dug up and reassumed." Trumbull in his 
History of Connecticut which was published in 1797. 
says that the Charter was "secreted in a large hollow 
tree fronting the house of the Hon. Samuel Wyllys." 



THE ROYAL OAK 



THE ROYAL OAK 



The Indian deed and the promise of the War- 
wick patent were the foundation of all land titles 
in Connecticut until May lo, 1662, when the char- 
ter granted by Charles II. passed the seals. It was 
issued upon the application of the colony through 
John Winthrop, Jr., who took a draft of what was 
wanted with him when he sailed for England and 
who was so fortunate as to secure the co-operation 
of his old patron, Lord Say and Seal,^ the Earl of 
Manchester and many other Puritan sympathizers 
who had influence at Court through having been 
instrumental in bringing about the Restoration. 

Before taking up the Charter, I purpose devoting 
a few pages to John Winthrop, Jr., and the King, 
whose miraculous escape after the battle of Worces- 
ter has been told time and again by the firesides of 
New England, a version of it having been brought 
over by Winthrop, who had it from the King him- 
self.- Other incidents in connection with it have 

' William, first Viscount and second Baron Say and 
Seal, was made Lord of the Privy Seal at the Restora- 
tion. He died April 14, 1662. He was active to the end 
of his days, as Pepys speaks of meeting him at the 
Lord's House on April 7 of same year. 

^ Peter Cunningham says that Charles IL loved to 
talk over the incidents of his life to every new face that 
came about him, and especially his escape from Wor- 



130 Wadsworth 

been sent from time to time to the people of Hart- 
ford by relatives living in the counties that His 
Majesty crossed v^hile seeking a vessel to carry 
him to France, and it was the knowledge of this 
adventure that prompted Mistress Ruth Wyllys, 
when I brought her the charter, to bid me conceal 
it in the hollow oak, just as the King who granted 
it found shelter in the foliage of an oak when his 
life was in peril and of which all Englishmen sing, 
The Royal Oak it was the tree 
That saved his royal majesty. 
Possibly in years to come the descendants of those 
who lived and acted in Hartford when Sir Edmund 
Andros was here to do the bidding of King James, 
may also sing, 

The Charter Oak it was the tree 
That saved the people's liberty. 

cester. Burnet says that he went over it so often that 
those who had been long accustomed to it usually with- 
drew. On the other hand Sheffield says that many of 
his ministers, not out of flattery, but for the pleasure 
of hearing it, affected an ignorance of what they had 
hear.d ten times before. This love of talking made 
King Charles fond of strangers who would listen to 
his stories and went away in raptures at such an un- 
common condescension in a Monarch; while the same- 
ness in telling caused Lord Rochester to observe that 
"he wondered to see a man have so good a memory as 
to repeat the same story without losing the least cir- 
cumstance, and yet not remember that he had told it to 
the same persons the day before." (See Lord Roches- 
ter to Saville, relative to Mulgrave's Essay on Satire. 
Malone's Life of Dryden, Burnet, etc.) 



The Royal Oak 131 

John Winthrop, Jr., who was in 1635 designated 
in the commission granted by the Warwick pat- 
entees as Governor of the River Connecticut, with 
places adjoining thereto, and who was at a later 
date Governor of Connecticut, and died in 1676 
while holding that office, was born at Groton in 
Suffolk, England, February 12, 1605-6. He was 
fitted for college at the free grammar school found- 
ed by Edward VI. at Bury St. Edmunds and after 
studying at Trinity College, Dublin, was admitted 
a barrister of the Inner Temple in London, Febru- 
ary 28, 1624-5. As secretary of Captain Best, on 
the ship-of-war Dere Repulse, he served under the 
Duke of Buckingham in the effort to release the 
French Protestants at La Rochelle. 

Upon the return of the fleet he departed for the 
continent and for a year and a half traveled in 
Europe, going as far east as Constantinople. On 
February 8, 1631, John Winthrop, Jr., married 
Martha Fones, whose sister was the wife of his 
brother Henry, and in August of that year he and 
his wife sailed for Boston on the ship Lion. They 
were ten weeks at sea and arrived in Boston No- 
vember 4, 1 63 1. The following March he was 
elected Assistant in Massachusetts. In March, 
1632-3, he made a settlement at Agawam, a name 
that was afterwards changed to Ipswich, and re- 
sided there until September, 1634, when his wife 



132 Wadsworth 

and daughter died. A few weeks later he sailed for 
England, where early in the following year, he was 
employed by Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brooke 
to found a plantation in Connecticut, the commission 
granted him bearing the date of July 15, 1635, and 
as has been stated, made him Governor of the River 
Connecticut with places adjoining thereto for one 
year after his arrival. Before sailing for New Eng- 
land John Winthrop, Jr., married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Edmund Read and step-daughter of Rev. 
Hugh Peters,^ who afterwards became chaplain to 
Oliver Cromwell, Winthrop and his second wife 
arrived in Boston on the Abigail, October 6, 1635, 
in company with his step-father-in-law, Hugh Pe- 
ters, and young Harry Vane, who was in due time 
elected Governor of Massachusetts, and after his 
return to England, became a power in the Com- 
monwealth. 

^ Hugh Peters, a native of Fleury in Cornwall, was 
expelled from St. John's College, Cambridge, for ir- 
regularity. He was then an actor and afterwards took 
orders and was celebrated for his buffoonery in the 
pulpit. He was so bitter against Charles the First that 
at the Restoration he was excepted in the act of pardon 
and was hanged and quartered in 1660. Heath, in his 
narrative which was published during the reign of 
Charles II., refers to Peters in the list of Regicides as 
follows: Hugh Peters, the shame of the clergy, a 
pulpit buffoon, a seditious abominable fellow, trumpeter 
of their pageantry of a high court of Justice, the most 
unparalleled ecclesiastic in all story or times. 



The Royal Oak 133 

As soon as he was settled comfortably in Boston, 
John Winthrop, Jr., sent a party of twenty men to 
found a settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut 
River. The subsequent struggles of this outpost in 
the wars and disputes with the Pequots, is a portion 
of the history of the colony, but Winthrop did not 
take an active part in them, as in 1637 he returned 
to Ipswich and the following year obtained permis- 
sion to set up salt works at Ryall-side, then part of 
Salem, Prior to this date his son, Fitz John Win- 
throp, who was Governor of Connecticut from 1698 
to 1707, was born March 14, 1637-8, in Boston. 
John Winthrop, Jr., moved to Ryall-side in 1639 
and resided there until August, 1641, when he again 
sailed for England. He remained abroad for over 
two years, the most of his time being devoted to 
organizing a company to erect iron works in New 
England. 

Returning to New England in 1643, John Win- 
throp, Jr., remained in Massachusetts until the 
spring of 1645, when he started for the Pequot 
country, taking with him the first horse^ ever seen 

'John Winthrop, Jr., was one of the first, if not the 
first man to encourage horse breeding in New Eng- 
land. On Fisher's Island he maintained a stud farm 
which was continued by his son and grandson. In 
1677, the year after John Winthrop, Jr., died, John 
Hull, the master of the Boston Mint, at which the pine 
tree shillings were coined, associated himself with Mr. 
Brenton and Benedict Arnold, and enclosed Point 



134 Wadsworih 

in Connecticut, In November of that year the town 
of Pequot, a name subsequently changed to New 
London, was founded, and in 1646 John Winthrop, 
Jr., removed his family to Fisher's Island, which 
was granted him by the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts. His residence in New London was built 
the following year. In 1655 he moved to New 
Haven and from there to Hartford in 1657, when 
he was elected Governor of Connecticut. From 
1646 until his death, in 1676, John Winthrop, Jr., 

Judith in Rhode Island by running a stone wall across 
the north end in order to keep the mongrel breeds 
from among the "very good breed of large and fine 
horses" which they pastured there, and some of which 
no doubt came from the Winthrop stud on Fisher's 
Island. (See Archselogia Americana, Vol. Ill, p. 128.) 
It is supposed that the Narragansett pacer which 
fables have made rise, Venus like from the sea, trace to 
this band on Point Judith and of which the Rev. Dr. 
McSparren said that he had seen "some of them pace 
a mile in a little more than two minutes." How much 
more would be very interesting to those who study 
racing. The first horse brought to New England ar- 
rived in Boston, July i, 1630, in the Mayflower or 
Whale. (See Winthrop's History of New England, 
Vol. I, p. 34.) Three heifers and a bull were brought 
to Plymouth in the Charity in 1624. (See Pilgrims and 
Puritans, p. 179). They were the first cattle in New 
England. In the south, Ferdinand De Soto landed in 
Florida in May, 1539, with two or three hundred 
horses and began his unsuccessful search for gold or 
silver, although he discovered the Mississippi River in 
which he also found a grave. Of the horses, a few 
wounded ones were turned loose in the forest when 
Mavilla or Mobile was burned October 18, 1540. In 
March of the following year another bunch of horses 



The Royal Oak 135 

was identified with Connecticut, and while he fre- 
quently asked to be relieved from the cares of office 
in order to devote his declining years to his own 
affairs, the inhabitants of the colony had so much 
confidence in his judgment that they would not 
consider it. The highest honor in their gift was 
none too great for a man who had procured the 
charter upon which they based the titles to their 
homes. 

In 1649, Winthrop gave notice that he would 
decline re-election in the Court of Assistants in the 

escaped into the woods when the Chickasas burned 
Chicaca after they had refused to supply De Soto with 
two hundred men to carry the baggage of his army. 
This village was in the upper part of Mississippi, 
probably on the west bank of the Yazoo. (See Ban- 
croft's History of the United States, Vol. I, Chapter 
II.) A few days after this mishap, De Soto discovered 
the Mississippi River, which he crossed, barges being 
built for the horses. De Soto died May 21, 1542, and 
his followers, after making an unsuccessful effort to 
find gold, built a few boats to carry them down the 
river. What horses they did not kill for food were 
turned loose in the forest. The wild horses which 
were subsequently found on the prairies traced to this 
stock. Bancroft also says that it was not long after 
1660 before the horses multiplied in Virginia, and to 
improve that noble animal was early an object of pride 
soon to be favored by legislature. Speed was es- 
pecially valued and "the planters' pace" became pro- 
verbial. (See Bancroft's History of the United States, 
Vol. I, p. 234.) In New England in 1637, a mare from 
England or Flanders was worth 30 pounds. (See 
Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 78.) In 
1687 the court allowed Steven Bracy 4 pounds for a 
horse that was pressed into the country service and 
lost. (See Connecticut Colonial Records.) 



136 Wadsworth 

Massachusetts colony, and after a residence of one 
year in Connecticut, he was in May, 1651, chosen 
as an Assistant. About this time his step-father- 
in-law, Hugh Peters, urged him to return to Eng- 
land and cast his fortunes with the followers of 
Oliver Cromwell. Winthrop decided to remain in 
New England and was in 1657 chosen Governor. 
He was again elected to that office in 1659, after 
which the law forbidding immediate re-election of 
the Governor was changed, and John Winthrop was 
chosen annually from that date until 1676. In 1661 
he was sent to England, without relinquishing the 
Governorship, to procure a charter for the Colony 
from Charles H., the General Assembly on the 
fourth of March of that year voting 500 pounds for 
his expenses and as the Treasurer did not have the 
money, Winthrop raised it by mortgaging Fisher's 
Island. 

When John Winthrop, Jr., visited the court of 
Charles II. no one in England was aware of the 
relationship existing between him and Cromwell's 
chaplain, Hugh Peters, who had been executed as 
a Regicide. I have also heard it said that one of 
Peters' legs was nailed over the gate by which his 
step-son-in-law entered London, while Cromwell's 
head,^ pierced with a pikestaff, looked down on him 

^ The embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell is owned 
by Horace Wilkinson, who lives at Seal, near Seven- 




HUGH PETERS 



The Royal Oak 139 

from Westminster Hall, but for the truthfulness of 
this I cannot vouch. 

At this period many Puritans had influence at 
court. The King had not as yet forgotten that he 
came to his own again through their favoring a 
Restoration, to what prevailed after the death of 
Oliver Cromwell, and made it possible by co-oper- 
ating with Monk, under whom John Winthrop's 
son Fitz John served as a captain on the march to 
London. Monk was at this date Duke of Albe- 
marle, and Lord Say and Seal, after serving as 
privy counsellor to Charles I., survived the Com- 
monwealth, and was now, notwithstanding his 
Presbyterian principles and well-known bearing to- 
wards the Puritans, Lord of the Privy Seal. Lord 
Brooke, one of his associates in the Warwick Pat- 
ent, and whose name is coupled with his in Say- 
brook, was dead, having been shot while sitting 
in his chamber by a besieged soldier in Litchfield 
Close. 

Favored by "Old Subtility,"^ the Earl of Man- 
oaks, in Kent. It, together with a portion of the 
pikestaflf with which it was pierced, fell from the pin- 
nacle of Westminster Hall during the reign of James 
II, after being exposed to the elements for over thirty 
years. 

* It was an age of nicknames. The King was known 
as "Old Rowley," an allusion to an ill-favored but 
famous horse in the Royal Mews. King Charles called 
Hobbes "the bear," named a favored yacht "Fubbs" 



140 Wadsworth 

Chester and their following, John Winthrop, Jr., 
soon made his way at court, his recitals of the won- 
ders of this, then comparatively unknown world, 
in which the English by their valor and skill at 
arms, had conquered the Pequots and other tribes 
of Indians, being very gratifying to the King, with 
whom Winthrop had several audiences, and those 
who had followed His Majesty from the continent. 
During one of these interviews Winthrop presented 
His Majesty with a ring which was given his grand- 
father by Charles I. when he was Prince of Wales. 
This pleased the King mightily and in return he 
presented Governor Winthrop with a miniature of 
himself painted on ivory. 

in honor of the Duchess of Portsmouth, who became 
very plump in her person, while he called the Queen 
"a bat" in allusion to her short, broad, figure, her 
swarthy complexion and the projection of her upper lip 
from a protuberant tooth. The name selected for 
Lord Say and Seal was very appropriate when it :3 
remembered that it was applied to a man who passed 
through the Revolution, lived under the Common- 
wealth and aided in the Restoration without being put 
to any annoyance, while his sons also lived on in the 
enjoyment of their estates under Charles II., although 
one of them, Nathaniel Fiennes, commanded Bristol 
when taken by that madman. Prince Rupert, was con- 
demned to be shot, but escaped the penalty, later be- 
came one of the Commissioners of the great seal under 
the Parliament and subsequently a member of Crom- 
well's privy council; while John, his third son, was 
one of Oliver Cromwell's Lords. After the Restora- 
tion Nathaniel retired to his estates in Wiltshire, 
where he died Dec. i6, 1669. 



The Royal Oak 141 

Notwithstanding the favors shown him by His 
Majesty and those who were numbered among- his 
admirers, John Winthrop, had many obstacles 
to overcome, but his tact proved equal to every 
emergency. On one occasion an enemy of colonial 
interests, who felt that he had been slighted by an 
unknown from America, handed the King a pine 
tree shilling^ which had been struck in Massachu- 
setts as an evidence that the colonists were violating 
the laws of England by coining the King's money, 
and under such conditions were not entitled to pat- 
ent privileges. The King retained the coin until 
Winthrop again appeared at court to urge the Con- 
necticut petition, and after his arguments were pre- 
sented Charles handed him the piece of money and 
asked him what was meant by the tree on the face 
of it. "That," said Winthrop, who was familiar 
with the personal history of the King and who also 
saw that the name of the tree could not be deter- 
mined by the stamp on the coin, "is the Royal Oak, 
whose leaves and branches once sheltered your gra- 
cious Majesty from your foes." 

^ The pine tree shillings were coined by John Hull 
who was made master of the Mint in Boston in 1652. 
Hull was born at Market Hanborough, Leicestershire, 
England, December 18, 1624, and accompanied his 
father to New England in 1635. He was a zealous Puri- 
tan and married Judith, daughter of Edmund Quincy, 
the ceremony being performed by Governor Winthrop 
"on the nth day of the third month," 1647. 



142 Wadsworth 

"Oddsfish," said His Majesty, "you are truly loyal 
in New England, when even the dangers I have 
passed are commemorated on your coins," and as 
Winthrop related on his return, the King, utterly 
regardless of the other business which required his 
attention, called his spaniels^ and as he fondled 
their long silky ears, related to those present how 
he fled from Worcester and wandered for over six 
weeks in the southwestern counties of England 
before his friends could find a ship to carry him 
across the channel to France. Over fifty years 
have elapsed since I first heard what the King said 
to Winthrop and the others who were present and 
since then many local facts have been added to the 
narration which I will endeavor to place on record 
in these notes. 

The battle of Worcester was the last stand that 
the Royalists made in England against Cromwell, 
and as his victorious troops poured into the city, 
Charles Stuart, the nominal King of Great Britain, 
surrounded by a few nobles, rode out of St. Mar- 
tin's gate towards Scotland, a fugitive who in a 
few days had a price of i,ooo pounds placed on his 

* Sept. 4, 1667. Staid (at the Whitehall chamber) 
and heard Alderman Baker's case of his being abused 
by the council of Ireland, touching his lands there; all 
I observed there was the silliness of the King, playing 
with his dogs all the while, and not minding the busi- 
ness, and what he said was mighty weak. — Pepy's 
Diary. 




WILLIAM PENDRELL 



The Royal Oak 145 

head. In the first flush of triumph no one in the 
Parliamentary forces appeared to be very anxious 
to apprehend the King and to this no doubt he owed 
his escape without leaving a clue. 

When the King left the city, he and Lord Wil- 
mot, afterwards the Duke of Rochester, intended 
to make a dash for London in the hope of getting 
a vessel for France before the news of his defeat 
could get thither, but he found that he could not 
break away from his defeated soldiers who were, 
like himself, fleeing along Leicestershire road until 
it was too late. He finally, with about sixty gentle- 
men and officers, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord 
Derby and Wilmot being of the number, slipped 
out of the high road and galloped towards Wolver- 
hampton, passing through Stonebridge, where a 
troop of the enemy was quartered for the night, 
without being suspected. After a ride of about 
twenty miles, as the day was breaking they came 
to White Ladys,^ a house belonging to the Giffard 
family, one of whose retainers, William Pendrell, 
hid Lord Derby at Boscobel House while he was 
recovering from a wound received in a skirmish 
with Colonel Lilburn at Wigan, Just as they ar- 
rived at White Ladys, a country fellow brought the 

* White Ladys was given the name from it having 
been formerly a monastery of Cistertian nuns whose 
habits were of that color. 



146 Wadsworth 

news that there were three thousand Royalist horse 
on a heath near Tong Castle, all in disorder, under 
David Leslie. A few of those who were with the 
King advised him to join Leslie and endeavor to 
reach Scotland, but Charles thought that this was 
not possible, as he knew that the country would rise 
against the Scotch and that men who had deserted 
him when in good order could not be depended upon 
after they had been beaten. 

After having some refreshments of bread and 
cheese, the King decided to go on foot to London 
disguised in a country fellow's habit, a pair of or- 
dinary gray cloth breeches, a leather doublet and a 
green jerkin. Upon the announcement of his plan, 
all of the persons of quality and officers, except Lord 
Wilmot, rode off to join Leslie. After they reached 
him and marched about six miles they were 
routed by a single troop of horse. Lord 
Derby and a number of others being taken prison- 
ers. Before leaving to join the Leslie horse, Charles 
Giffard recommended to the King his retainers, 
Richard and William Pendrell,^ ashonestmenwho 

^ The Pendrell family consisted of six sons and one 
daughter, the mother, good wife Pendrell, called Dame 
Joan by Charles II., being at Hobbal Grange when the 
King was in that vicinity. She died in 1669 and was 
buried at White Ladys. Of her sons, Thomas fell at 
Edgehill in the army of Charles I., William lived with 
his wife at Boscobel House; Richard, "Trusty Dick," 
resided at Hobbal Grange; John and George, both of 



The Royal Oak 147 

could be depended upon. With their assistance 
he cut off his hair and flung his clothes in a privy- 
house so that nobody might see that anyone had 
been stripping themselves there, and, disguised 
in a leathern doublet and workman's suit, left 
White Ladys to find refuge in Spring Coppice 
wood. Seated on a blanket which Richard Pend- 
rell brought from the house of his brother-in-law, 
Francis Yates, the King passed the first day of 
his hiding, good wife Yates, a sister of the Pend- 
rells, bringing him a mess of butter, milk and 
eggs, and cheering him with the assurance that 
she would rather die than discover him. 

As the King and Richard Pendrell passed the 
day in the wood, they talked about getting to 

which were woodmen, occupied adjoining cottages, al- 
though Father Hudleston says that John lived at 
White Ladys and Humphrey at the mill at White 
Ladys. The daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Fran- 
cis Yates, who gave the King the coarse shirt which 
he wore until Hudleston gave him a linen one the fol- 
lowing week at Moseley Hall. The King is supposed 
to have changed his clothes in the Yates house, and 
he told Pepys at Newmarket in 1680 "the man in whose 
house I changed my clothes came to one of the Pend- 
rells about two days after, and asking him where I 
was, told him that they might get 1,000 pounds if 
they would tell, because there was that sum upon my 
head. But Pendrell was so honest, that, though he at 
the time knew where I was, he bade him have a care 
what he did; for, that I being gone out of reach, if 
they should now discover that I had been there, they 
would get nothing but hanging for their pains." 



148 Wadsworth 

London, and, as the family did not know any men 
of quality on the way, Charles decided that he 
would create less suspicion by crossing the Sev- 
ern and seeking shelter among the Royalists in 
Wales until a ship could be found to carry him 
from Swansea or some of the other sea towns, to 
France. At nightfall they repaired to Hobbal 
Grange, where the King completed his rustic dis- 
guise and from which he and "Trusty Dick" 
Pendrell started on foot towards the river, in- 
tending to cross at a ferry between Bridgewater 
and Shrewsbury. As they were trudging along 
in the dark they came to a mill in which they 
could hear people talking. When they passed, 
the miller, who was sitting at the door, 
called out, "Who goes there?" upon which Rich- 
ard Pendrell answered, "Neighbours going 
home." Whereupon the miller cried out, "If you 
are neighbours, stand or I will knock you down." 
Fearful of exposure on account of the King not 
being able to speak in the accent of the country, 
and believing that the company was coming out 
of the mill, Pendrell and Charles turned and fled 
up a lane, with the miller crying "Rogues, 
rogues," in pursuit. 

They soon evaded him in the darkness, and, 
after hiding for about half an hour behind a 
hedge, marched on to Madeley, where Pendrell 



The Royal Oak 149 

knew an old Royalist named Woolfe, who had 
hiding holes for priests. The King refused to go 
into his house until he knew whether Woolfe 
would harbor so dangerous a guest, and remained 
in the field under a hedge until Pendrell could 
learn if he would receive a person of quality and 
hide him the next day. At the time Woolfe's son 
was a prisoner at Shrewsbury, having been taken 
while fighting for the King, while his house had 
recently been searched and all of the hiding holes 
discovered. 

When Woolfe learned that the man seeking 
shelter was one who escaped from Worcester, he 
said that he would not venture his neck for any 
man unless it were the King himself. As Pend- 
rell had orders not to tell who the person was, he 
did not know which way to turn, but upon learn- 
ing that there were two companies of militia in 
the place Ireeping guard at the ferry, and seeing 
that the day was coming, he decided to disobey 
Charles' commands and told Woolfe that it was 
the King. Upon this Woolfe said that he would 
venture all he had in the world to secure him, 
and Pendrell brought the King into the house by 
a back way. 

After giving the pair some cold meat, Woolfe 
concealed them under the corn and hay in his 
barn, where they remained all the next day. 



150 Wadsworth 

Towards evening Woolfe's son who had been 
released, came home. At dusk they brought 
food to the barn, where they discussed the 
chances of getting over the Severn into Wales. 
They were of the opinion that it could not be 
done on account of the strict guards that were 
kept all along the river where a passage could 
be found, and, as the King had taken sufificient 
chances in the past forty-eight hours, he decided 
to return to Pendrell's house and remain there 
until he could hear from Lord Wilmot. After 
Mrs. Woolfe had completed the King's disguise 
by staining his face and hands a reeky color with 
walnut leaves, Richard Pendrell and Charles 
started for Boscobel House, stopping on the way 
at John Pendrell's, where they learned that Wil- 
mot had found shelter at Moseley Hall, the home 
of Mr. Whitgreave, and that Major Carles, an 
officer who had fought under him at Worcester 
and who had maintained his ground until the last 
man was killed, was in hiding at Boscobel. 

As soon as the King arrived at his destination 
he sent for Carles and consulted with him as to 
what they should do the next day. Carles advised 
him that it would be dangerous to remain in the 
house or go into the great wood, as the enemy 
would certainly search for people who had made 
their escape. He also said that he knew of but 








THE ROYAL OAK OF BOSCOBEL 



The Royal Oak 153 

one way to pass the day, and that was to climb 
into an oak tree standing in an open space about 
a furlong from the house, ^ As the King approved 
of the plan, the two fugitives, assisted by the 
Pendrells, went up into the great oak, taking 
some bread, cheese and small beer as victuals for 
the day. This tree had been lopped some three 
or four years before, and, having grown out again 
very thick and bushy, could not be seen through ; 
but during the day both Carles and the King saw 
the red coats of Cromwell's soldiers as they 
searched in the Boscobel wood for persons who 
had escaped from Worcester. None of them 
came near the hiding place, which has since that 
day been known as the Royal Oak.^ At dusk 

* After the Restoration, when the details of the 
King's escape from Worcester were published, hun- 
dreds flocked to Boscobel to see the tree, which was 
soon called the Royal Oak. The more zealous ad- 
mirers of the King were not satisfied with looking at 
the tree, but insisted on carrying away young branches 
as souvenirs. At an early date Basil Fitzherbert, who 
subsequently owned the property on which the tree 
stood, built a stone wall around the tree to protect it 
from the public. He also had it cropped in the hope 
that it would grow out again, but even this heroic 
measure failed to save it. Upon its fall one of its 
acorns was planted on the original spot. The wall 
built by Sir Basil was removed in 1814, when a high 
iron railing took its place. A brass plate, with Sir 
Basil's inscription formerly fixed on the tree, is still 
preserved in Boscobel House. 

"^ On April 21, 1840, at a meeting of the Connecti- 
cut Historical Society Col. Wm. L. Stone of New 



164 Wadsworth 

Carles and the King returned to Boscobel House, 
where they remained until the following evening, 
when John Pendrell returned from a visit to Lord 
Wilmot and told the King that arrangements had 
been made to receive him at Moseley Hall. 

At nightfall, surrounded by a bodyguard com- 
posed of the five Pendrells and brother-in-law 
Yates, the King, mounted on Humphrey's mill 
horse, set out. As they trudged along in the 

York, made the following reference of the Charter and 
Royal Oaks: "I need not remind this audience of the 
fact that after the decisive defeat of Charles the Sec- 
ond, by Cromwell at Worcester, he was indebted to 
the thick branches of an oak in Boscobel, for conceal- 
ment from his victorious pursuers, upon whom he 
looked down in perfect security. Now had it not been 
for the Oak of Boscobel, Charles would have been 
taken and executed by the fierce and victorious Presby- 
terian. Of course, in that event, he would not have 
granted the Charter of 1662, securing to the Colony the 
Constitution of 1639; and again when in 1687, Sir Ed- 
mund Andros came hither to reclaim the Charter, had 
it not been for the dexterity of Wadsworth and his con- 
federates, and the noble old Oak, whose boughs, 'mossed 
with age, and bald with dry antiquity,' yet brave the 
tempest and 'the scolding winds,' what would have be- 
come of that priceless Charter? Sir, I venerate the 
'gnarled and unwedgeable oak;' I prize it for its poetical 
associations and for its history. I prize it because it 
sheltered the patriarchs; I regard it because the Anglo 
Saxons loved and worshipped under it. I love it because 
it saved Charles the Second to give the Charter of 
1662. And I value it still more because it saved the 
Charter itself. Let me then give as a toast — The Oak 
of Boscobel and the Oak of Hartford — the latter saved 
the Charter of Connecticut, which but for the former, 
King Charles would not have lived to grant." 



The Royal Oak 155 

darkness and rain, his Majesty, who had not as 
yet recovered from his fatigue, complained that 
his mount "was the dullest jade he ever rode on," 
to which the miller replied, "Can you blame the 
horse, my liege, to go heavily when he has the 
weight of three kingdoms on his back?" an an- 
swer the King enjoyed hugely. 

When within two miles of Moseley Hall the 
King dismounted, and after parting with three of 
the brothers, proceeded on foot to a small grove 
of trees known as Pit Leason, where he was met 
by Father Hudleston^ and Mr. Whitgreave and 
conveyed to the home of the latter, where he 
found Lord Wilmot. The King remained at 
Moseley Hall for two days, during which Lord 
Wilmot and Colonel Lane perfected arrange- 
ments to have him proceed to a point near Bris- 
tol, as William Jackson, a serving man with 
Jane Lane, under a pass which she had from 
Captain Stone, Governor of Stratford. Clothed 
in an ordinary gray suit, the newly made servant, 
after being equipped and tutored in the stable by 
the Colonel, rode to the front door of Bentley 
Hall on a double horse provided for Mistress 

' Both Hudleston and Whitgreave had served in the 
army of Charles I. The former survived the Restora- 
tion and also Charles II. and was the priest who was 
smuggled into the Royal chamber to administer ex- 
treme unction to that monarch in his last moments. 



156 Wadsworth 

Lane and set off in company with a Royalist offi- 
cer named Lascelles, Mrs, Petre, a sister of Col- 
onel Lane, and her husband. 

After a ride of about two hours the King's 
mare cast a shoe and he was forced to ride to a 
village near by to have it reset. As he was hold- 
ing the mare's foot he asked the smith what news 
and was told that there was none since the Scotch 
rogues were beaten at Worcester. The King 
then asked if none of the English had been taken 
with the Scots and was told that he did not hear 
that the rogue Charles Stuart was taken, but that 
some of the others were. At this point His Maj- 
esty ventured the remark that if the rogue Charles 
Stuart were taken he deserved hanging for bring- 
ing in the Scots. Upon which the smith told 
him he talked like an honest man, and they parted. 

As the King and his small party arrived near 
Walton, within four miles of Stratford, an old 
woman who was gleaning in the fields cried out, 
"Master, don't you see a troop of horses before 
you?" and upon looking in the direction indicated 
they espied a troop whose riders had alighted 
and the horses eating grass by the wayside. At 
the suggestion of one of the gentlemen who ac- 
companied Mrs. Lane, they wheeled about and 
took a more indirect way into Stratford, where 
they met the same or another troop, which opened 



The Royal Oak 157 

right and left, making way for the travelers to 
march through them. Jane Lane and her com- 
pany lodged that night at the house of Mr. 
Toombs, in Long Marston, four miles west of 
Stratford. Upon their arrival, Will Jackson was 
sent to the kitchen, where the cook was busy 
preparing supper for the master and his guests. 
As the King in disguise sat by the fire, the cook 
bade him wind up the jack. When he failed to do 
it properly she flew into a passion and asked, 
"What countryman are you that you know not 
how to wind up a jack?" His Majesty answered 
very satisfactorily as he said, "I am a poor ten- 
ant's son of Colonel Lane's of Staffordshire ; we 
seldom have roast meat, but when we have it, we 
do not make use of a jack," at which the cook 
was very much amused. 

The following day Jane Lane's party, which 
was now reduced to Mr. Lascells and the dis- 
guised serving man, Mr. Petre and his wife hav- 
ing parted from them at Stratford, passed through 
Camden and lodged at an inn in Cirencester. 
Another day's journey brought them to the resi- 
dence of George Norton at Abbotsleigh, three 
miles beyond the town of Bristol. The King re- 
mained here from Saturday until the following" 
Tuesday. On the morning after his arrival he 
was recognized by the butler of the house, an 



168 Wadsworth 

honest fellow named Pope, and who had served 
Tom Jermyn, a groom of the King's bedchamber 
when Charles was a boy at Richmond. Pope 
had also been a trooper in his father's army. 
Plaving learned that he was always loyal, the 
King, as soon as he was advised of the discovery, 
sent for Pope and told him that as an old ac- 
quaintance he would trust him with his life. He 
also told him that it was his design to get a ship 
at Bristol, and to that end bade Pope go that day 
to the town and learn if there were any vessels 
ready to sail for Spain or France. Upon his re- 
turn Pope reported that there would be none 
sailing for a month, and, as the King could not 
remain at Abbotsleigh for that length of time, 
after consulting with Lord Wilmot, who traveled 
about without putting on any disguise, he de- 
cided to adopt Pope's suggestion of seeking shel- 
ter with Frank Wyndham at Trent in Somerset- 
shire. 

Accordingly the next morning Jane Lane, 
accompanied by Mr. Lascells and her disguised 
serving man, departed for Trent, although at the 
time the Nortons supposed that they were re- 
turning to Bentley Hall, while Lord Wilmot 
rode on in advance to apprise the Wyndhams of 
the quality of the guest who would seek the shel- 
ter of their roof. Upon receipt of advice that it 




JANE LANE 



The Royal Oak 161 

was the King, Colonel Wyndham, who was at 
the time a prisoner on parole, assured Wilmot 
that for His Majesty's preservation he would 
value neither his life, family nor fortune and 
would never injure His Majesty's confidence in 
him. 

The next morning, after acquainting his 
mother. Lady Wyndham, her niece, Juliana Con- 
ingsby, his wife and the servants that could be 
trusted with what Lord Wilmot told him over 
night, he and his lady walked forth in the fields 
to meet Jane Lane and her escort, which had 
lain the preceding night at Castle Cary, a town 
six miles distant from Trent. In their absence 
Lady Wyndham had her chamber prepared to 
receive the King, while all of the servants not 
privy to the secret were given employment which 
removed them out of the way at the time of his 
arrival. 

As soon as the King came near Colonel Wynd- 
ham, he called to him, "Frank, Frank, how dost 
thou do?" but refrained from further remarks 
until he and Mistress Lane had been conveyed into 
Lady Wyndham's chamber, where they were 
soon joined by Lord Wilmot. The ladies then 
withdrew to the parlor and on the following 
day Jane Lane and Mr. Lascells departed. As 
for the King, he remained at Trent house for 



162 Wadsworth 

nineteen days, except during the period coA^ered 
by an unsuccessful attempt to get a vessel to 
transport him from Lyme to France. During 
this period he had ample opportunity to learn of 
the loyalty of the Wyndhams. 

When the time hung heavily, Colonel Wynd- 
ham, on more than one occasion, entertained the 
King by relating how, in 1636, before the break- 
ing out of the Civil War, his father. Sir Thomas 
Wyndhani, summoned his five sons to his cham- 
ber and spoke to them of the peace which the 
kingdom had enjoyed under the Tudor sover- 
eigns and of the blessed union of the crowns of 
England and Scotland, which put an end to the 
border raids and feuds, many of which traced 
back to the Normans. After dwelling upon the 
stern but loyal barons who wrested the Magna 
Charta from King John, and referring to the 
divisions of families in the troubles between the 
houses of Lancaster and York, both of which 
were united in Henry VIL, he said, "My sons ! 
we have hitherto seen serene and quiet times, but 
now prepare yourselves for cloudy and trouble- 
some. I command you to honor and obey our 
gracious sovereign, and in all times to adhere to 
the crown ; and though the crown shall hang on a 
bush, I charge you to forsake it not." Sir Thomas 
died before the war began, but his family re- 



The Royal Oak 163 

mained loyal to the end, three of his sons and a 
grandson falling in battle in the cause of Charles 
I., and Frank Wyndham also served with honor. 

On one of the days while the King was con- 
cealed at Trent, he heard the bells ringing in a 
church yard hard by the Wyndham house, and, see- 
ing a company there he sent a maid who knew him 
to learn what was on foot. Upon her return she told 
him that one of Cromwell's troopers was telling the 
people that he had killed the King and that he was 
then wearing his buff coat. As the majority of the 
people were bitterly opposed to the Royalists, they 
expressed their joy by ringing the church bells and 
making a bonfire. 

The morning after the King arrived at Trent, 
both he and Lord Wilmot, after consulting with 
Frank Wyndham, decided that the latter should 
approach Sir John Strangways, who had had two 
sons in Charles I.'s army, and ask him to assist 
in procuring a vessel. The StrangAvays were un- 
able to give any aid in the adventure other than 
by sending the King a hundred pounds. After 
advising His Majesty of the failure in that quar- 
ter, Frank Wyndham traveled to Lyme, where 
he approached WiUiam Ellesden; a merchant 
who had, with the assistance of his brother, con- 
veyed several gentlemen to France. As soon as 
Ellesden learned that Colonel Wyndham came 



164 Wadsworth 

from the King, he expressed himself as willing 
to meet any hazard in the enterprise and went 
with him to one of his tenants, Samuel Limbry, 
who intended to make a speedy voyage to San 
Malo. Limbry agreed to transport Colonel 
Wyndham, who treated with him under the name 
of Captain Norris, and three or four friends to 
France for 60 pounds, promising to take them 
from the beach near Charmouth in his long boat 
on the night of September 22. As soon as their 
arrangements were completed, Colonel Wyndham 
returned to Trent and dispatched his servant, 
Henry Peters, to Charmouth to engage chambers 
at the inn for the King and his party until it was 
time to go on board. By representing his master 
as a gallant who was eloping with a young wom- 
an of good parents in Devon, and favoring the 
hostess with a present, Peters left with a promise 
that the house and its servants should be at his 
master's command. 

When the day selected for the journey to Char- 
mouth came, the King rode away from Trent as 
a serving man before Lady Wyndham's niece, 
Juliana Coningsby. Colonel Wyndham acted as 
guide, while Lord Wilmot and Peters remained 
at a convenient distance. William Ellesden met 
them and conducted the party to his brother's 
house among the hills, where they remained un- 



The Royal Oak 165 

til nightfall. The company then started for the 
inn, where they expected to lay until midnight, 
when Limbry's long boat was to meet them at 
the appointed place. 

As the set hour drew nigh Colonel Wyndham 
and Peters repaired to the beach, where they re- 
mained until the break of day. The boat did not 
come, and as they had not received a message 
from the master of the ship, they returned to the 
inn and advised both the King and Lord Wilmot 
to fly, as they feared that they had been betrayed. 
As soon as the horses could be led out, Colonel 
Wyndham and the King, the latter riding before 
Mistress Coningsby, departed for Burport, where 
Lord Wilmot promised to join them as soon as 
he learned why the ship had failed them. Send- 
ing for Ellesden, he had him find Limbry, from 
whom it was ascertained that in order to prevent a 
discovery he had not told his wife of his intention 
of going to sea until it was almost time for him 
to go aboard. When he called for his chest, she 
asked him why he was going to sail without 
goods, and he told her that Mr. Ellesden had pro- 
vided a better freight. His wife, having been at 
the Lyme fair that day, heard the proclamation 
read wherein i,ooo pounds reward was promised 
for the discovery of the King, and in which the 
penalties for concealing His Majesty or any of 



166 Wadsworth 

those who fought with him at Worcester were 
set forth. Being convinced that her husband 
intended to carry a few of these fugitives into 
France, she locked the door upon him and by 
the help of her two daughters kept him by force, 
and at the same time threatened that if he offered 
to stir out of doors she would go to Lyme and 
give information against him and Mr, Ellesden 
to Captain Macy, who was lying there with a 
company of foot. Knowing what an exposure 
meant, Limbry remained peaceably at home. 

While getting this information Lord Wilmot 
learned that his horse was wanting a shoe, and, 
knowing that it was all he had to depend upon 
in making his escape from Charmouth, he bade 
the hostler at the inn lead him to a smith and 
have one set. The horse was taken to the forge 
of one Hammet, who, after finishing his task, 
examined the remaining shoes, as all good work- 
men will. As he did so he said in the hearing 
of the hostler, "This horse hath three shoes that 
were set in three different counties, and one of 
them in Worcestershire." This confirmed the 
hostler's suspicions, which were first aroused by 
the horses being kept in readiness all the night, 
and several members of the company going to 
the seaside, but before he could find anyone who 
would listen to him, Lord Wilmot rode off 



The Royal Oak 167 

towards Burport, where he joined the King and 
Colonel Wyndham. 

When Charles and his party arrived at Bur- 
port they found the streets full of Cromwell's 
red-coated soldiers, it being a regiment of Colonel 
Haynes going to embark for Jersey. Wyndham 
was very much startled, but the King told him 
that they must go impudently into the best inn 
in the town, and take a chamber there; because 
they should otherwise miss Lord Wilmot in case 
they went anywhere else, and that would be very 
inconvenient both to him and them. So they 
rode directly into the inn yard. The King alight- 
ed and, taking the horses, went blundering 
through the middle of the soldiers into the stable ; 
and in doing so created not a little anger by his 
rudeness. 

As soon as he went into the stable Charles 
took the bridles off the horses, called the hostler 
to help him, and to give the horses some oats. 
As the hostler was feeding the horses he said, 
"Sure, sir, I know your face," which was not a 
very pleasant remark under the circumstances, 
but in order to learn what he did know the King 
asked him where he had lived and if he had al- 
ways lived in Burport or not. The hostler told 
him that he was born in Exeter and had worked 
in the stables at an inn near the house of one 



168 Wadsworth 

Mr. Porter, in whose house His Majesty 
had slept in the time of the war. Deeming it 
advisable to give the fellow no further occasion 
of thinking where he had seen him, the King told 
him, "Certainly, friend, you have seen me at Mr. 
Porter's, for I served him a good while above a 
year." At this the hostler replied, "Oh, then I 
remember you a boy there," and desired the King 
to drink a pot of beer with him. Excusing him- 
self by saying that he must go and wait on his 
master, and get his dinner ready, and promising 
to share a pot w^ith him on their return from 
London in about three weeks, Charles sought 
the shelter of the inn, where he remained until 
Lord Wilmot rode into the town. As soon as 
Peters announced his arrival, they took horse 
and galloped off on the London road, which they 
left as soon as Lord Wilmot joined them, taking 
what they supposed was the road to Yeovil, but 
which led them at about nightfall to Broad Wind- 
sor, where they found shelter in an upper cham- 
ber of a small inn kept by Rice Jones. In the 
interval the hue and cry raised by the hostler and 
those in Charmouth who listened to him, 
reached Captain Macy. He rushed off with a 
party in pursuit of the royal fugitive. At Bur- 
port he learned from the hostler that the party 



The Royal Oak 169 

had gone on to London, but all traces of them 
disappeared before Dorchester was reached. 

The following morning the King returned to 
Trent. Upon his arrival he sent a message to 
Salisbury for Colonel Robert Phillips, to learn 
what could be done in the way of getting a ship. 
Phillips chartered one, but before their plans 
could be completed it was prest to carry troops 
to Jersey. The next messenger was sent farther 
into Sussex, and, in order to be nearer the point 
of embarkation should a vessel be procured. His 
Majesty arranged with Colonel Phillips to find 
him a hiding place nearer Salisbury. He selected 
a house owned by Sergeant Hyde, and which was 
then occupied by the widow of his elder brother. 
It was near Heale, three miles from Salisbury. 

As soon as the necessary arrangements were 
completed Colonel Phillips went to Trent and 
returned with the King, the latter traveling in his 
old disguise of a serving man and for security 
riding in front of Mistress Juliana Coningsby. In 
this journey he passed through the middle of a 
regiment of horse and also met Disborow, who 
was at the time walking down a hill with three 
or four men who had lodged with him the night 
before in Salisbury. 

In four or five days Phillips returned to Heale 



170 Wadsworth 

to advise Charles that a vessel had been secured 
at Shoreham. Upon which, at two o'clock in the 
morning, they went out of the house by a back 
way, and, after traveling fifteen miles, met Lord 
Wilmot and Colonel Gunter. The latter con- 
ducted them to the home of his brother-in-law at 
Hambleton, seven miles from Portsmouth. The 
next day they went to Brighthelmstone, where 
they met the merchant Francis Mansel, who had 
procured the vessel, and its master, Captain Nich- 
olas Tattersall. As they were all sitting together 
the master of the vessel looked very much at the 
King, who was at the time in the same gray 
cloth suit. After they had supped he took the 
merchant aside and said that he had not dealt 
fairly with him, for though he had given him a 
very good price for carrying over the gentleman, 
he had not been clear with him, "for," said he, 
"it is the King, and I very well know him to be 
so." Upon which, the merchant denying it, as at 
the time he only knew His Majesty as a person of 
quality who had escaped from the battle of 
Worcester, the master answered, "I know him 
very well, for he took my ship, together with 
other fishing vessels, at Brighthelmstone in 1648. 
But be not troubled at it, for I think to do God 
and my country a good service in preserving the 
King, and, by the grace of God, I will venture 




CHARLES II 



The Royal Oak 173 

my life and all for him and set him safely on 
shore, if I can, in France." 

When the merchant advised Lord Wilmot and 
the King of the conversation, His Majesty told 
him that what Captain Tattersall said was true 
and that he had, when in command of his father|s 
fleet, taken the vessels as stated, but let them 
go again. After what had happened, and remem- 
bering their mishap at Charmouth, it was not 
deemed prudent to let the captain go home lest 
he should be asking advice of his wife or any- 
body else, so they kept him with them at the inn 
where they sat up all night drinking beer and 
taking tobacco. 

About four o'clock in the morning the King 
and his company went towards Shoreham, where 
both he and Lord Wilmot got into the ship. They 
went out of port about seven and stood all day 
with easy sail towards the Isle of Wight, the 
vessel being bound for Pool with a load of sea 
coal. About five o'clock in the afternoon, the 
wind being then full north, its bow was turned 
towards France and the next morning, a little 
before day, they saw the coast. As the tide failed 
them, the King and Lord Wilmot were rowed 
ashore and went up into the town of Fecamp, 
where they remained until they procured horses 
to carry them to Rouen, from whence they sent 
notice to Queen Henrietta in Paris. 



174 Wadsworth 

Within an hour after the King landed the wind 
changed and Captain Tattersall was carried 
directly to Pool without its being known that 
he had been on the coast of France.^ Such, in 
brief, is the narrative of Charles II. 's escape from 

* Charles II. 's love of talking referred to by Cun- 
ningham and others in a preceding note is aptly illus- 
trated in the Diary of Samuel Pepys, who wrote as fol- 
lows on May 23, 1660, the day Charles sailed from Hol- 
land for England. "All the afternoon the King walked 
here and there, up and down, very active and stirring. 
Upon the quarterdeck he fell into discourse of his es- 
cape from Worcester, where it made me ready to weep 
to hear the stories that he told of his difficulties that he 
had passed through, as his traveling three days and 
four nights on foot, every step up to his knees in dirt, 
with nothing but a green coat and a pair of country 
breeches on, and a pair of country shoes that made him 
so sore all over his feet that he could scarce stir. Yet 
he was forced to run away from a miller and other 
company that took them for rogues. His sitting at a 
table at one place, where the master of the house, that 
had not seen him in eight years, did know him, but 
kept it private; where at the same table there was one 
that had been of his own regiment at Worcester, could 
not know him, but made him drink the King's health, 
and said that the King was at least four fingers higher 
than he. At another place he was by some servants in 
the house made to drink, that they might know him 
not to be a Roundhead, which they swore he was. In 
another place at his inn, the master of the house, as 
the King was standing with his hands upon the back 
of a chair by the fireside, kneeled down and kissed his 
hand, privately saying that he would not ask him who 
he was, but bid God bless him whither he was going. 
Then the difficulty to get a boat going into France 
when he was fain to plot with the master thereof to 
keep his design from the foreman and a boy (which 



The Royal Oak 175 

Worcester and his wanderings in the southern 
counties of England before he could find a vessel 
to carry him across the Channel, and that he did 
not forget those who risked their lives and prop- 
erty aiding and sheltering him when there was a 
price upon his head, is evidenced by the following 
pensions which were granted after the Restora- 
tion: 

Lady Fisher, nee Jane Lane,^ pension for 
life looo pounds 

Colonel Lane, pension for life 500 

Anne Wyndham, widow of Sir Francis 
Wyndham, pension in which her daugh- 
ters Rachel and Frances had a joint 
reversionary interest for their lives 400 

Robert Phillips, pension for life... ... 400 

Mr. Whitgreave, an annuity with reversion 
to his son Thomas 200 

Richard Pendrell and his heirs forever, per 
annum 100 

William Pendrell and his heirs forever, per 
annum 100 

Humphrey, John & George Pendrell and 

their heirs forever, per annum severally. 100 marks 

Elizabeth Yates, widow, and her heirs for- 
ever, per annum 50 pounds 

was all the ship's company) and so got to Fecamp in 
France. At Rouen he looked so poorly that the peo- 
ple went into his rooms before he went away to see 
whether he had not stole something or other." 

*Jane Lane's pension was accompanied by a watch, 
which by the express request of the King, was to 
descend by succession to the eldest daughter of the 
house of Lane. The Colonel Lane pension ceased in 
the reign of George L The Pendrell and Yates an- 
nuities are still paid, the last reference to them in the 
daily press being published in the New York Sun in 



176 WadswoHh 

the form of a despatch from St. John, N. B., Canada, 
September 20, 1902. It is reproduced as an evidence that 
at least one family did not suffer when its members 
trusted a Prince. 

"A gift from Charles II. Dr. Walker benefiting by 
the gratitude of a King 250 years ago. St. John, N. B., 
Sept. 20, 1902. Because in September, 251 years ago, 
the Pendrells, of Boscobel in Staffordshire, England, 
saved the life of Charles Stuart, afterward Charles II., 
Thomas Walker, M. D., of St. John, gets 10 pounds per 
annum. For he is a descendant of the Pendrells. After 
Charles became King, Farmer Pendrell was suitably 
remembered. One of the estates which Charles granted 
afterward was made chargeable with a perpetual pay- 
ment of 100 pounds to each of the other four brothers, 
and 50 pounds to a sister, Elizabeth Pendrell, who 
shared the family secret. Dr. Walker, of St. John, is a 
descendant of Elizabeth Pendrell. There were five 
families descended from her, and the 50 pounds was 
divided, so that the representative of each branch gets 
ID pounds a year. A check for this amount, less a 
small commission, comes every spring to Dr. Walker 
from a solicitor at Lichfield, England. His father got 
it before him, and it will descend to his son. Once, 
when in England, the doctor sought to learn whose 
estate was still paying so old an account, but the solic- 
itor was abroad." 

In order to make a permanent provision for the con- 
tinuation of the Pendrells' and Yates' pensions, 
Charles II., on July 24, 1675, settled by patent fee farm 
rents to Sir Walter Wrottesley, Bart., Richard Con- 
greve and John Richard, Esqrs., charged with the 
pensions granted the Pendrells and Yates families. 



i 

THE PATENT, 
CHARTER AND DEED 



I: 



THE PATENT, CHARTER AND DEED 



November 3, 1620, James I., by letters patent, 
incorporated the Duke of Lennox, Marquis of 
Buckingham, Marquis of Hamilton, Earl of Arun- 
del, Earl of Warwick and others to the number 
of forty noblemen, knights and gentlemen, into 
what was afterwards known as the Plymouth 
Company, the object of which was the planting, 
ruling and governing of New England in Amer- 
ica, "and granted unto them, and their successors 
and assigns, all that part of America lying and 
being in breadth from forty degrees of north 
latitude, from the equinoctial line to the forty- 
eighth degree of said northerly latitude inclu- 
sively, and in length of, and within all the breadth 
aforesaid, throughout the main lands from sea 
to sea." The patent ordained that this territory 
should be known forever as New England. It is 
also the foundation of all subsequent grants made 
to the Colonies in New England. 

On March 19, 1628, the Plymouth Company 
granted unto Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young, 
Thomas Southcoat, John Humphrey, John Endi- 
cott, and Simon Whitcomb, their heirs and as- 
signs forever, all that part of New England be- 
tween the Merrimack and Charles Rivers, in the 



180 Wadsworth 

bottom of Massachusetts Bay, and three miles 
to the north and south of every part of the Charles 
River, and three miles south of the southernmost 
part of said bay, and three miles to the northward 
of every part of the Merrimack River. Charles 
I. confirmed this patent on March 4, 1629, and 
the settlement of Massachusetts was commenced 
under it. 

In 1630 the council of Plymouth granted its 
President, Robert, Earl of Warwick, "all that 
part of New England in America which lies and 
extends itself from a river there called the Narra- 
gansett River, the space of forty leagues upon a 
straight line, near the seashore, towards the 
southwest, west and by south or west, as the 
coast lyeth towards Virginia, counting three miles 
to the league, and also all and singular the lands, 
hereditaments whatsoever, lying and being with- 
in the lands aforesaid, north and south in latitude 
and breadth, and in length and longitude of, and 
within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the 
main lands there, from the western ocean to the 
south seas, and all lands, grounds, soil, wood and 
woodlands, grounds, havens, ports, creeks, rivers, 
waters, fishings and hereditaments whatsoever 
lying within the said space and every part and 
parcel thereof, and also all lands lying in America 
aforesaid, in the said seas or either of them, on 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 181 

the western or eastern coasts or parts of the said 
tracts of land by these presents, to be given and 
granted."^ This grant was subsequently known 
as the Warwick Patent and is the original patent 
of Connecticut. 

This patent was, on October 19, 163 1, trans- 
ferred by the Earl of Warwick to William Vis- 
count Say and Seal, Robert Lord Brooke, Rob- 
ert Lord Rich, Charles Fines, Sir Nathaniel Rich, 
Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Pym, John Hamp- 
den, John Humphry, Herbert Pelham, their heirs 
and assigns and their associates forever, but no 
steps to found a colony were made until July 7, 
1635, when William Say and Seal, Henry Law- 
rence, Richard Saltonstall, George Fenwick, Ar- 
thur Hazelrigg and Henry Darley appointed 
John Winthrop, the younger, "Governor of the 
River Connecticut in New England, and of the 
harbor and places adjoining," for the space of one 
year from his arrival there. The articles of agree- 
ment between the parties also stipulated that as 
soon as Winthrop came to the Bay he should 
employ at least fifty able men to build a fort and 
houses at the River Connecticut, and the harbor 

* This grant, according to President Clap of Yale 
College, extended from Point Judith to New York, 
and from thence in a west line to the south sea; and if 
the whole length of the Narragansett River is included, 
it extended as far north as Worcester, Massachusetts. 



182 Wadsworth 

adjoining, first for their own accommodation, 
and also houses suitable to receive men of qual- 
ity, the latter to be built within the fort. It was 
this clause which led to the rumor that Pym, 
Hampden, Hazelrigg, Cromwell and others who 
were associated with them, intended to leave 
England and settle in America. They were ex- 
pected for many a day, or at least until the suc- 
cesses of the Parliamentary forces under Crom- 
well convinced the surviving patentees that vic- 
tory was assured, the rout of King Charles' forces 
at Naseby practically putting an end to his au- 
thority as sovereign. 

In addition to appointing John Winthrop, Jr., 
Governor of the River Connecticut, the Warwick 
patentees also employed Lion Gardiner to com- 
mand the fort for four years, subject to the direc- 
tion of the Governor. At the time of his engage- 
ment, Gardiner was Master of the Works of For- 
tification in the camp of Frederick Henry, Prince 
of Orange, in the Netherlands, where he and 
John Mason, one of the founders of Windsor and 
the leader of the Connecticut forces in the Pequot 
war, both saw much active service under Sir 
Thomas Fairfax. Gardiner was born in England 
in 1599, and went with the English army to the 
Low Countries, where he met Hugh Peters, and the 
Rev. John Davenport, one of the founders of New 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 183 

Haven, both of whom were at the time connected 
with a Protestant church in Rotterdam. They 
urged him to accept the offer of the Warwick 
patentees and both of them in the course of a 
few years met him in New England. 

Before leaving for England, Gardiner was, on 
July lo, 1635, married to Mary Wilemsen, of 
Woerden. They proceeded to London, where, 
after entering into an agreement to act as archi- 
tect, builder and engineer of the town and fort of 
defense which was to be located at the mouth of 
the Connecticut River, Gardiner and his wife, with 
her maid, Elizabeth Colet, sailed on August 11 for 
New England, with Captain Thomas Webb, in 
the Batchelor. After a voyage of three months 
and seventeen days, they landed on November 
28 in Boston, where Gardiner met Winthrop. 

As arrangements for the reception of Gardiner 
and his wife at the mouth of the Connecticut had 
not been made, the citizens of Boston solicited 
his advice in completing their fort, and while 
each of them were contributing fourteen days' 
labor, or the equivalent in money, a force of 
twenty men under Lieutenant Gibbons was sent 
by Winthrop to the mouth of the Connecticut 
River to erect suitable buildings for Gardiner 
and his wife, both of whom went there as soon 
as the work at Boston was completed. 



184 Wadsworth 

Winthrop and Gardiner learned upon their ar- 
rival in Boston, that a company had gone from 
Dorchester and Watertown to settle upon the 
Connecticut River, and that the inhabitants of 
Newtown intended to go there the following 
summer, but with the understanding that they 
were not to go beyond the limits of the Massa- 
chusetts patent. The desire to remove to the 
Connecticut valley was first expressed in 1634, 
and before the inhabitants of the three towns 
named took their departure they were joined by 
Roxbury, under the leadership of William Pyn- 
chon. One of the reasons for the change of abode, 
as stated at the time and also subsequently re- 
peated by John Winthrop, Jr., in his address to 
Charles II., when the colony of Connecticut was 
seeking a charter, was that the place was not 
large enough for so great a number if they re- 
mained together. The true reason, however, was 
that the residents of the towns named were dis- 
satisfied with the management of public affairs 
and decided to establish a colony in which the 
foundation of authority rested upon the free con- 
sent of the people. This was Hooker's idea. In 
Dorchester that ambitious, but restless, spirit, 
Roger Ludlow, was a leader. He had been an 
Assistant in the General Court of Massachusetts 
for four years and Deputy-Governor in 1634. He 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 185 

hoped to be Governor in 1635, but was defeated 
by the jealousy of the deputies, who had taken 
offense at some remarks made by him. John 
Haynes was chosen notwithstanding Ludlow's pro- 
test, and in order to hide his humiliation he decided 
to follow Newtown's lead. The inhabitants of the 
last named town received permission to seek a more 
convenient place of residence on May 14, 1634, A 
like permission was granted Roxbury and Water- 
town on May 16, 1635, and Dorchester on June 3 of 
the same year. 

In the location of the new colony, the residents 
of Newtown were no doubt guided by the favor- 
able reports received by John Haynes, one of the 
leaders in the movement, although he was at that 
time Governor of Massachusetts, while Roger 
Ludlow had also acquired considerable informa- 
tion from traders and the Pequots, who had twice 
visited him during his term of office as Deputy- 
Governor. In 1635, a few of the inhabitants of 
Watertown and Dorchester came to the Con- 
necticut River and settled at Wethersfield and 
Windsor. The Hooker company, however, did 
not leave Newtown until May 31, 1636. Prior to 
its departure the General Court of Massachu- 
setts, at its session on March 3, 1635-6, appointed 
a commission composed of Roger Ludlow, Wil- 
liam Pynchon, John Steele, William Swaine, 



186 Wadsworth 

Henry Smith, William Phelps, William West- 
wood and Andrew Ward, giving them full power 
and authority for the space of one year to hear 
and determine in a judicial way all dififerences 
that might arise in the new plantation. At the 
time that this step was taken, it was understood 
that those who were withdrawing from the vicin- 
ity of Boston were to remain within the limits of 
the Massachusetts patent, but all of them, possi- 
bly because they did not have the means of de- 
termining where the boundary was, except the 
inhabitants of Roxbury, who founded Agawam, 
afterwards known as Springfield, passed beyond 
it. When this was discovered no steps were 
taken to make a change, and when the members 
of the commission held their last meeting on 
February 21, 1636-7, they took the first step 
towards separating the towns on the river from 
Massachusetts by changing the name of New- 
town to Hartford, Watertown to Wethersfield, 
and Dorchester to Windsor. 

The first General Court in Connecticut met at 
Hartford, May i, 1637. While in session it or- 
dered "that there shalbe an oflFensive warr against 
the Pequoitt, and that there shalbe 90 men levied 
out of the 3 Plantacons, Harteford, Weathersfeild 
& Windsor." Of this number Hartford contrib- 
uted forty-two Windsor thirty and Wethersfield 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 187 

eighteen. The trouble between the English and 
the Pequots began in 1634, when two traders, 
Captains Stone and Norton, came into the river 
with a design of trading with the Dutch at the 
House of Hope. They employed Indians t(0 
direct them to Dutch Point, as they did not know 
the channel. All of them were murdered. In 
1635, Captain John Oldham, who was trading 
with the Indians at Block Island, was also mur- 
dered. 

When this was reported to the authorities of 
Massachusetts Bay, the Governor, Sir Harry 
Vane, upon the advice of the magistrates 
and ministers, decided to retaliate. This meant 
an Indian war. Lion Gardiner, who of all 
men was vitally interested in it, as his fort was 
on the edge of the Pequot country, was not ad- 
vised of it until late in the summer, when 
George Fenwick came to the mouth of the Con- 
necticut, by way of Boston, in company with 
Governor Winthrop and Hugh Peters. From 
the early spring until the date of their arrival, 
Gardiner had been expecting three hundred able- 
bodied men, as promised by the Warwick pat- 
entees, when he made his contract with them, 
but, as he subsequently remarked, "Our expecta- 
tions came only to two men (George Fenwick and 
his man servant), and they did not come to stay." 



188 Wadsworth 

Before Gardiner's visitors returned to Boston, 
they promised to do what they could to have the 
Governor defer hostilities for a year or two, or 
at least until the fort at the mouth of the Con- 
necticut River was garrisoned and well supplied 
with provisions, as at that time Gardiner had but 
twenty-four men, women and children, one of the 
latter being his infant son David,^ the first white 
child born within the limits of Connecticut, and 
not enough food to keep them two months unless 
he could save the crop of corn which was 
planted two miles from the fort and could not 
be gathered if there was trouble with the Indians. 

Before Fenwick and Winthrop reached Boston, 
John Endicott had departed with ninety men for 

^ David Gardiner was born at Saybrook fort, April 
29, 1636, and was as has been stated, the first white 
child born in Connecticut. He remained there until 
1639. when his father removed to Gardiner's Island. 
He was sent to England for an education and married 
there. Lion Gardiner died in 1663, having willed all 
his property to his wife. She died in 1665 and in her 
will said: "I give my island Isle of Wight to my son 
David, wholly to be his during his life and after his 
decease to his next heire maile begotten by him, and 
to be entayled to the first heires maile proceeding from 
the body of my deceased husband Lion Gardiner and 
me his wife Mary, from time to time for ever. Never 
to be sold from them and to be a continuous inheri- 
tance to the heires of me and my husband for ever." 
The island is owned to this day by the Gardiner fam- 
ily. As for David, he succeeded his father and died 
very suddenly in 1689 at Hartford, where he was called 




SIR EDMUND ANDROS 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 189 

Block Island, where he killed fourteen Indians, 
destroyed their corn, staved in their canoes and 
burned every wigwam he could find. He then 
sailed for the Pequot country, where, after par- 
leying with the natives, he destroyed their vil- 
lages and growing corn, after which he sailed 
away, leaving the little fortress at the mouth of 
the river the only habitation of the white man 
upon which the Pequots could wreak their ven- 
geance. They lay in wait for every one seen out- 
side of the fort, killing a few, and destroying all 
of the property not within range of the guns. 
In February the General Court, sitting at Hart- 

on business. His grave is in the burying ground back 
of the Center Church. The head stone bears the fol- 
lowing inscription: 

Here lyeth the body of David Gardiner of Gardiner's 
Island. Deceased July lo, 1689, in the fifty fourth year 
of his age. Well. Sick. Dead in one hours space. 

Engrave the remembrance of Death on thine heart, 

When as thou dost see how swiftly hours depart. 

David Gardiner was succeeded by his son John, born 
April 19, 1661, and died at Groton, Conn., in 1738, from 
injuries received by a fall from a horse. He married a 
daughter of John Allyn of Hartford. It was in their 
day that the pirate Captain Kidd landed on the Island 
and buried the iron chests in which there were 74754 
ounces of gold, 6065^ ounces of silver and three bags of 
precious stones. The Captain also demanded refresh- 
ments for himself and crew and requested Mrs. Gardi- 
ner to roast a pig. She cooked it very nicely and the 
Captain was so well pleased with it that he made her a 
present of a piece of silk, a sample of cloth of gold., 
which is still in the possession of her descendants. 



190 Wadsworth 

ford, sent Captain John Mason with twenty mei\ 
to reinforce the garrison, and advised the Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts of the evils growing out 
of Endicott's expedition. After each attack the 
Indians became bolder. Finally, in April, they 
ascended the river as far as Wethersfield, where 
they killed six men and two women and took two 
maidens captive. They also killed twenty cows 
and destroyed other property. This act forced 
the General Court to declare war on the Pequots. 

Within a few days of the Indians' attack on 
Wethersfield, John Underbill, who had served 
under Endicott, was sent from Massachusetts 
with twenty men to reinforce Gardiner's garrison. 
Upon his arrival. Mason and his men returned 
to Hartford, but within a month the doughty 
captain was again en route for the mouth of the 
river with the ninety men levied in the three river 
towns and seventy Mohegan Indians under Un- 
cas. They sailed from Hartford on May lo and 
were five days in reaching Saybrook, where nine- 
teen men under Underbill were added to the 
forces. 

On the morning of May 25, about two hours 
before day, Mason attacked and burned the Pe- 
quot fort. About five hundred Indians, men, 
women and children, were destroyed, while only 
seven were taken prisoners and seven escaped. 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 191 

This slaughter, with the swamp fight that fol- 
lowed, gave the colony of Connecticut a title to 
all of the Pequot country, and upon it, together 
with the deed of purchase from the Indians, as 
well as the promise of George Fenwick, the foun- 
ders of the colony and their ancestors based their 
claim to the land which was subsequently cov- 
ered by the charter. 

On February 9, 1637-8, the General Court again 
met at Hartford, and after transacting some busi- 
ness about the price of corn and the payment of 
the expenses of the Pequot war, Agawam 
(Springfield) being included in the levy, it was 
dissolved, no further attendance being expected 
from its members unless they were chosen for 
the next Court. It met March 8, Agawam being 
represented by William Pynchon. No fur- 
ther change was made until January 14, 1638-9, 
when the inhabitants of Windsor, Hartford and 
Wethersfield met and adopted the Fundamental 
Orders. The first general meeting of the free- 
men under them was held April 11, 1639, when 
John Haynes, of Hartford, was chosen Governor 
"for the yeare ensueing and until a new be chos- 
en," Roger Ludlow, of Windsor, Deputy-Gov- 
ernor, Edward Hopkins, Secretary, and Thomas 
Welles, Treasurer. 

Edward Hopkins, the first Secretary of the Col- 



192 Wadsworth 

ony, was born at Shrewsbury, England, in 1600. 
He amassed a fortune as a merchant in trade with 
Turkey, Having become imbued with the Puri- 
tan ideas of John Davenport, he decided to ac- 
company that worthy divine and Theophilus 
Eaton when they sailed for Boston in 1637. Hop- 
kins was also related in a manner by marriage 
with the latter, he having married Ann Yale, 
whose mother was Theophilus Eaton's second 
wife. Instead of accompanying Davenport and 
Eaton to Quinnipiack, where they founded New 
Haven the following year, Edward Hopkins lo- 
cated in Hartford. In 1640 he was chosen Gov- 
ernor. Between that time and 1654 he was seven 
times re-elected to that office. He also served as 
Deputy-Governor for six years, was an Assistant 
and a Commissioner of the United Colonies. 

In 1654, upon the death of an elder brother, he 
returned to England to look after an estate which 
he inherited. Upon his arrival Cromwell ap- 
pointed him Warden of the Fleet, a post which 
had been filled by his brother. He was afterwards 
a Commisioner of the Admiralty and the Navy, 
and also a member of Parliament. The prompt 
appreciation of his abilities, as well as the infirm 
state of his health, induced him to remain in London. 

While Edward Hopkins lived (his death oc- 
curred December 5, 1657,) the New England Col- 



The Patent, Charier and Deed 193 

onies had a firm friend in him. He assisted their 
agents with advice, left a portion of his estate for 
the encouragement of learning at the grammar 
schools and colleges/ and, as a mark of appre- 
ciation for the many favors shown him by rela- 
tives and friends in New Haven, he printed at 
his own expense the laws compiled for that col- 
ony, and in doing so gave the followers of Dav- 
enport and Eaton a code in book form seventeen 
years before Connecticut.^ 

^The following is the portion of Edward Hopkins' 
will referred to: "And the residue of my Estate there 
(in New England) I do hereby give and bequeath unto 
my father Theophilus Eaton Esqr; Mr. John Daven- 
port; Mr. John Cullick and Mr. Wm. Goodwin, in full 
asurance of their Trust and Faithfulness in disposing of 
it in according to the interest and purpose of Mr. Ed- 
ward Hopkins, which is to give some Encouragement 
unto the foreign Plantations for the breeding up of 
Hopeful! youth in the way of Learning both at ye 
Gramer School and Colledge, for the public service of 
the Country in future times." Owing to dissensions 
in the Church at Hartford and in which the members 
of the General Court took an active interest, this fund 
was not surrendered to the parties named in the will 
until March, 1664, at which time John Davenport and 
William Goodwin were the only surviving trustees. In 
the division Hartford wq,s given 400 pounds, while the 
balance, including 500 pounds to come from the estate 
in England, was divided between New Haven and Had- 
ley, 100 pounds out of the share of the latter being 
given to Harvard. 

^ Until the year 1673 the laws of the colony of Con- 
necticut were kept in manuscript and were promulgated 
by sending copies of them to the several towns. At a 
General Court, held at Hartford October 10, 1672, it 



194 Wadsworth 

Upon the expiration of his engagement with 
the Warwick patentees, Lion Gardiner purchased 

was ordered that the laws of the colony should be 
printed. Each family in the Plantation was also re- 
quired to purchase a copy of the Law Book. The Law 
Books were to be paid for when delivered either in 
silver or wheat; "those that pay in silver to pay twelve 
pence a book; and those that pay in wheat to pay a 
peck and a half a book, and those that have not these 
things to pay two shillings in pease for a book, pease 
at three shillings per bushel." This was the first 
printed edition of the Connecticut laws. It was printed 
by Samuel Green and was issued after October, 1673, 
when the court appointed Mr. Samuel Wyllys and Mr. 
James Richards to compare one of the Law Bookes 
with the originall and see that the printer rectify the 
errataes according to his covenant." Prior to this date 
Roger Ludlow had compiled what is usually designated 
as the "Code of 1650." It was not printed at that time 
nor until more than a century and a half later. This 
code was written into the Law Books of the dififerent 
towns. One of these books, the one used by the town 
of Windsor, still exists and is owned by the Connecti- 
cut Historical Society. Of the Law Books of 1673, 
but nine are known to exist. There is one in His Maj- 
esty's Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London; 
two in the State Library at the Capitol, Hartford; one 
at Trinity College, Hartford; one in Yale University 
Library; one in Yale Law School Library at New 
Haven; one in the Public Library, Boston, Mass.; one 
owned by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Phila- 
delphia, Pa., and one by the Connecticut Historical 
Society. The copy owned by the Connecticut Histor- 
ical Society was located in 1903 by Joseph Mitchelson, 
Tariffville. Conn., in the office of General John B. San- 
born, St. Paul, Minn., and was purchased for the 
Society by James J. Goodwin. It is in its original 
binding and is the copy given by John Allyn to Samuel 
Wyllys, on whose grounds the Charter Oak stood. 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 195 

Gardiner's Island^ (he called it the Isle of Wight) 
from the Indians and removed there with his 
family, as well as a number of the men who had 
served under him at Saybrook fort, as soon as 
his successor, George Fenwick, arrived from 
England in the summer of 1639. While Gardiner 
was in charge neither Hampden, Pym or any of 
the others named in the patent gave the settle- 
ment at the mouth of the Connecticut River much 
attention. All of them were busy with home 
affairs, but after Hampden's ship money trial it 

^ The Gardiner family has an old Bible which be- 
longed to Lion Gardiner, upon a blank leaf of which 
the following is written: "In the year of our Lord, 
1635, the loth of July, came I, Lyon Gardiner, and 
Mary my wife, from Worden, a town in Holland, where 
my wife was born, being the daughter of one Diricke 
Willemson, deureant; her mother's name was Hachir, 
anH her aunt, sister to her mother, was the wife of 
Wouter leanerdson, old burger Muster, dwelling in 
the hostrade, over against the Bruser in the Unicorne's 
head; her brother's name was Punce Garretson, also 
old burger Muster. We came from Worden to London, 
and from thence to New England, and dwelt at Say- 
brook fort four years — it is at the mouth of Connecti- 
cut river — of which I was commander, and there was 
born unto me a son, named David, 1635. the 29th of 
April, the first born in that place, and 1638 a daughter 
was born, named Mary, 30th of August, and then I 
went to an island of my own, which I had bought and 
purchased of the Indians, called by them Monchonack, 
by us Isle of Wight, and there was born another 
daughter, named Elizabeth, the 14th September, 1641, 
she being the first child of English parents that was 
born there." 



196 Wadsworth 

became self-evident to those who were opposed 
to the King's unconstitutional exercise of his 
prerogative and Laud's domineering methods in 
religious affairs, that the time had come to leave 
England or resort to arms. In order to prepare 
for the former, the gentlemen interested in the 
Warwick patent decided to send one of their 
number to New England to complete the prepa- 
rations which were begun in 1635. George Fen- 
wick, a London barrister, who had visited the 
fort at the mouth of the Connecticut in 1636, was 
selected. He started with two ships in charge, 
being accompanied by his wife, Lady Fenwick, 
sometime known as Lady Alice Bottler or Butler, 
and several gentlemen with their attendants. 
They laid the foundations of Saybrook and so 
named the settlement in honor of the two princi- 
pals in the patent, William Viscount Say and 
Seal, and Robert Lord Brooke. 

The year after Fenwick left England, Charles 
L called what proved to be the Long Parliament, 
which eventually dethroned, tried and executed 
him. As soon as war was declared in England, 
emigration to America ceased, while a number 
of the leading men in New England returned to 
their native land, where they took up arms in de- 
fense of the Parliament. To George Fenwick itj 
also meant a series of disappointments, as Hamp- 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 197 

den, Pym, Hazelrigg and others who were inter- 
ested with him in the patent were so actively en- 
gaged in public affairs that they did not have the 
time or means to advance the interests of Saybrook. 
As soon as the novelty of the situation wore 
off, Fenwick saw that nothing could be made out 
of the enterprise, while his training as a barrister 
unfitted him for agricultural pursuits. When the 
inhabitants of the river towns (Hartford, Wind- 
sor and Wethersfield) learned that Saybrook fort 
was a burden to Fenwick, they desired him to 
make a proposition concerning the sale of the 
place, and finally, after some correspondence with 
his associates in England, he offered it at 3,000 
pounds, although he would have accepted one- 
half of that amount providing it had been divided 
into three payments of 500 pounds per annum. 
The amount demanded was more than the towns 
could pay, but they made a bid of 200 pounds per 
annum for ten years, payable in the products of 
the country, for the whole interest at Saybrook 
and on the river. Fenwick did not accept this, 
and there was no further treaty between him and 
the colony until 1644, after the death of Hamp- 
den and Pym.^ At the time it was apparent to 

^ Hampden was in 1643 wounded in the shoulder at 
Chalgrave field and died from the effects of it. Pym 
died early in the winter of 1644, worn out by incessant 
labors in the interest of the Parliament. 



198 Wadsworth 

Penwick that in the event of the King being vic- 
torious in the war which was being waged be- 
tween the Royalists and the Parliamentary forces, 
English soil, even in the wilds of America, would 
not prove an asylum for his associates and their 
followers. According to his advices the issue 
was still in doubt and even the most sanguine 
could see but few rays of hope until Cromwell's 
military genius swept all before it at Marston 
Moor and Naseby. 

Knowing that defeat meant disaster, Fenwick 
again opened negotiations with the colony, after 
having sent abroad reports that he intended to 
impose taxes and customs on vessels entering the 
river. He was also prompted to renew the nego- 
tiations on account of the fortifications and hous- 
ings at the fort being sadly in need of repair. 
The palisades, which were whole trees set in the 
ground, were so rotten that they could almost 
be pushed over.^ Finally, on December 5, 1644, 
George Fenwick met Edward Hopkins, John 
Haynes, John Mason, John Steele and James 
Boosy. They entered into an agreemnt under 
which Fenwick made over to the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut, Saybrook fort and the lands upon 

^ See the George Fenwick letter dated Nov. 10, 1643, 
at Saybrook in the Barrington Letters; Egerton 2648, 
in Bodleian Library, Oxford. 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 199 

the river, the colony agreeing in return for ten 
years, from the first of the next March ensuing, 
that he or his assigns should receive two pence 
for each bushel of corn or meal and six pence for 
each one hundred of biscuit which should pass 
out of the river mouth ; twelve pence per annum 
for each milch cow and mare three years old or 
upwards within any of the towns or farms upon 
the river, and two pence per annum for each hog 
that was killed within the limits of the river. 
He was also to receive twenty shillings on each 
hogshead of beaver traded out of the colony and 
two pence on each pound of beaver traded within 
the limits of the river. 

Before this agreement was placed on record,^ 
Fenwick, on February 17, 1646, entered into a 
second agreement, which was signed by Edward 
Hopkins, John Talcott and Fenwick's brother-in- 
law, John Cullick. Under it Fenwick or his as- 
signs were to receive for ten years one hundred 
and eighty pounds per annum, one-third in good 
wheat at four shillings per bushel, one-third in 
peas at three shillings per bushel and one-third in 
rye or barley at three shillings per bushel. About 

'The General Court did not order the Fenwick agree- 
ment to be placed on record until May 18, 1654, when 
it ordered "that the Secretary of the Courte shall truly 
in the Country Book of Records record the agreement 
of the jurisdictyon with Colonel George Fenwick, Esq., 
about the forte." 



200 Wadsworth 

i,6oo pounds were paid under this agreement, the 
bulk of it passing through the hands of John 
Cullick/ who represented Fenwick, the latter hav- 
ing returned to England in 1648, a short time after 
the death of his wife. 

In the first agreement George Fenwick also 
promised "that all the lands from the Narragan- 
sett River to the fort at Saybrook mentioned in a 
patent granted by the Earl of Warwick to certain 
nobles and gentlemen, should fall under the jur- 
isdiction of Connecticut if it came into his pow- 
er." He failed to keep this promise, possibly be- 
cause he was never in a position to do so, neither 
did he favor the General Court with a copy of the 
patent, which was destroyed in 1647 in the Say- 
brook fort fire. But that he did not, after his 
return to England, forget the promise was after- 
wards shown by the fact that Governor Winthrop 
procured from Henry Dalley, the executor of Ed- 
ward Hopkins, a copy of the patent^ which was 

* A few of the receipts given by Cullick for the "fort 
rate" are still extant, several of them being published 
in the first volume of the Colonial Records of Con- 
necticut. They show that Hartford paid 60 pound;?, 
5 shillings in 1654, 1655 and 1656-7; that Windsor paid 
42 pounds 5 shillings i penny in 1647, and 26 pounds 
15 shillings i penny in 1656; that Wethersfield paid 49 
pounds 9 shillings 12 pence in 1654 and that Farming- 
ton paid 15 pounds 5 shillings in 1654 and 1657. 

^ In 1662 when forwarding the Charter to the colony, 
Governor Winthrop enclosed two copies of the War- 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 201 

found among that gentleman's papers, and it is 
only fair to Fenwick to presume that he gave it 
to the former Governor of the Colony. 

Upon his return to England, George Fenwick 
was named as one of the King's Judges. He did 
not sit, neither did he taken an active part in the 
afifairs of the Commonwealth. For a second wife 
he married Katherine, daughter of Sir Arthur 
Hazelrigg. She survived him, his death occur- 
ring in April, 1657. In his will he left "all lands, 
chattels, real and personal, owned by him in New 
England, to his sister Elizabeth, wife of John Cul- 
lick, and her children, and likewise that out of 
itt may bee had five hundred pound, which I doe 
hereby give to ye publique use of that country of 
New England, if my loving friend Mr. Edward 
Hopkins think it fitt." It is not known as to 

wick Patent, both of which were made from the one 
found among the Hopkins' papers as is shown by the 
letter of acknowledgment written by Daniel Clark 
from Windsor on November 17, 1662. In it he said. 
"We have received the Charter, the duplicate and the 
copy of ye former charter, well approved and liked by 
all." (See Massachusetts Historical Collections, Vol. 
XI.) One of these copies is still preserved in the files 
of the State Department of Connecticut, and has the 
following written in what is believed to be the hand of 
Governor Winthrop at the top of the first page: "The 
copye of the Patent of Connecticutt, being a copy of 
that copy wch was shewed to the people here by Mr. 
George Fenwick. Found amongst Mr. Hopkins' 
papers." 



202 IVadsworth 

whether Edward Hopkins ever heard of this be- 
quest, as he was at the time far gone with con- 
sumption and made his own will in March of the 
same year, although he did not die until the fol- 
lowing December. Nothing was said about this 
bequest until the will was presented to the Gen- 
eral Court. It refused to surrender Fenwick's 
estate or to grant administration thereon until 
an equitable settlement of accounts should be 
affected, the Court claiming that Fenwick had 
failed to fulfill his engagement with the Colony 
to secure the right of jurisdiction to the territory 
covered by the Warwick patent. Captain Cul- 
lick finally, in 1660, compromised the matter with 
the Court by the repayment of 500 pounds,^ which 

' When Mrs. Cullick was advised that a copy of the 
Warwick Patent had been found among Edward Hop- 
kins' papers she presented the following petition to the 
General Court, which met in Hartford, May 14, 1663: 

To the Honrd Generall Court of Connecticutt Jvris- 
diction, now assembled, the humble petition of Eliza- 
beth Cullicke, relict to Captayne John Cullick, de- 
ceased. 

Humbly sheweth: 

That whereas there weare entred into (by yor Peti- 
tioner's husband,) certayne obligations for the make- 
ing of paymt the sum of fiue hundred pownds vnto this 
honord Cort, according to the tymes specifyed in the 
twoe obligations given for the same, together with the 
paymt of interest in case of falure in poynt of tyme, 
one of wch obligations hath beene satisfyed & taken 
vp, & the other prt satisfyed, viz: one hundred 
pounds, foure shillings, tenpence, being payde, so that 
there remaynes one hundred fourty & nine popnds, 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 203 

was set aside to pay Governor Winthrop's ex- 
penses when he went to England to secure the 
charter. 

No effort was made by the colony to procure a 
charter from Cromwell, although it was well 
known that he sympathized with those who had 
emigrated to America in order to escape perse- 
cution for their belief, while on the other hand the 

fiftene shillings, twoe pence, by the sayd obligation, 
for yor petitioner to pay, as executrix vnto her late 
husband. And forasmuch that the grownd of these ob- 
ligations given by j'or petitioner's husband, was vpon 
the apprehention that there had beene a totall falur in 
the brother of yor petitioner, George Fenwick, Esqr, 
respecting his procuring of a Pattent for the Collony, 
since which it hath appeared that there was a mistake 
therein, for that there was found wth the Executor of 
Mr. Edward Hopkins some such writing, wch was de- 
livered to the Honrd John Winthrop Esqr, Governor 
and Agent for the Collony, whereby he was advantaged 
in the soliciting the Kyngs most excellent Majesty for, 
and in procuring of, those letters Pattent now ob- 
tyned, — 

Wherefor yor Petitioner doth pray this Honrd 
Gen'rall Cort, that they will please to accept of what 
hath beene already payde; and that you would remit 
the one hundred fourty nine pounds, fiftene shillings 
twoe pence, by obligation remaineing; which wilbe an 
acceptable clemency before the Lord towards yor pe- 
titioner, and noe stratening to the Treasury of this 
Honrd Court. And yor petitioner shal pray. 

Elizabeth Cullick. 

The following paragraph in the proceedings of the 
court shows what was done with it: "The petition of 
Mrs. Cullick was this day read and the court voted that 
they did not see cause to make any abatement of the 
said bill according as she petitioned." 



204 



Wadsworth' 



Protector was too busy with European affairs to 
pay any attention to the colonies except when he 
suggested that the New Haven people, who were 
almost disheartened by a series of disasters on 
land and sea, remove to the recently acquired 
island of Jamaica.^ 

Upon the fall of the Commonwealth and after 
the news of the Restoration crossed the Atlantic, 
the colony of Connecticut followed Massachu- 
setts' lead in making a formal avowal of its alle- 
giance to the crown and at the same time made 
its first move towards acquiring a charter, as with 
the Dutch on one side, the Indians on the other 
and Massachusetts contending for more terri- 
tory, the three river towns and those which were 
allied with them presented a very forlorn appear- 
ance, with nothing but an Indian deed and 
George Fenwick's promise to depend upon in the 
event of a contest. Governor Winthrop, who was 
selected to represent the colony in this important 
matter, was requested to draw up an address to 
His Majesty, which when presented at the May 
meeting was cordially approved. 

In his address Governor Winthrop said that the 
founders of the colony of Connecticut settled in 
Massachusetts : 

' Jamaica was taken from Spain in 1655. 




JOHN WINTHROP 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 207 

"neer the port of their first arrival * * * till vpon 
experience they found that place would be too streight 
for soe great a number if they should continue all there 
together. They therefore vndertooke a troublesome, 
hazardous and chargeable discouery of the more inland 
parts of ye Countrey; where comeing to ye great faire 
Riuer of Connecticut, haueing opertunity by the free 
tender of ye sale of some larg tracts of lands fit for ye 
settling of diuers Plantations or Townes, profered unto 
them by ye Sachems or Heathen Princes and with ye 
concurrence of ye other natiues vnder them, the then 
proprietors of those places, they thought it very con- 
venient to purchase those lands of them who appeared 
to be the owners and possessors of ye same, which 
could not but tend to ye enlargement of his Maties 
Dominions, and be a good step towards ye yet further 
extent thereof, and ye benefit of ye English people. 
And therevpon transplanted themselues and vs to this 
place, where we were but now in a manner vpon our 
very beginnings of takeing possession and inhabiting 
ye places wch we had brought at noe smal expencees. 
when those sad and vnhappy times of trouble and wars 
begun in England, which we could only bewaile with 
sighs and mounrfull teares: And haue euer since hid 
our selues behind the Mountains, in this desolate 
desert, as a people forsaken, choosing rather to sit 
solitary and wait only vpon the Divine Providence for 
protection than to apply ourselues to any of those many 
changes of powers, or hearts as wel as or station stil 
remaining free from illegale ingagements and intire to 
yor Maties interests, euen now at ye returne of or 
Lord ye King to his Crowne and dignities." 

The Court also, in order to give this petition 
greater weight, appointed a committee on which 



208 Wadsworth 

the Governor was associated with Deputy Gov- 
ernor Mason, Mr. Wyllys, Mr. Allyn, Mr. Ware- 
ham, Mr. Stone, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Whiting and 
Daniel Clark, Secretary of the colony, to still 
further perefct and amend it. In their petition 
they said : 

"And whereas, besides the great charge that hath 
been expended by our fathers, and some of their as- 
sociates yet surviving, about the purchases, building, 
fortifying, and other matters, of culturing and improv- 
ing to a condition of safety and subsistence, in the 
places of our present abode, among the heathen, where- 
by there is a considerable and real addition to the 
honour and enlargement of his majesty's dominion, by 
the sole disbursements of his majesty's subjects here; 
of their own proper estates, they have laid out a very 
great sum for the purchasing a jurisdiction right of 
Mr. George Fenwick, which they were given to under- 
stand was derived from true royal authority, by letters 
patent, to certain lords and gentlemen therein nomi- 
nated, a copy whereof was produced before the com- 
missioners of the colonies, and approved by them, as 
appears by their records, a copy where of is ready to 
be presented at your majesty's command, though, 
either by fire at a house where it had been sometimes 
kept, or some other accident, is now lost; with which 
your poor subjects are rather willing to have con- 
tented themselves, in those afflicting times, than to 
seek for power or privileges from any other than their 
lawful prince and sovereign." 

This petition bears the date of June 7, 1661, 
and was signed by Daniel Clarke, secretary, by 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 209 

order of the General Court of the Colony of Con- 
necticut in New England. In addition to this 
the Governor was given letters signed by the 
Secretary of the colony addressed to Lord Say 
and Seal and the Earl of Manchester. In the 
communication to the latter the colony solicited 
his counsel and advice respecting the monies paid 
to George Fenwick for jurisdiction and power 
and obtaining a patent for the colony. It also 
stated that: 

"the great disappointment yt we meet with about an 
Agreemt yt was made by this Colony with ye fore- 
mentioned Mr. Fenwick doth necessitate vs therevnto. 
We disbursed a considerable sum of estate, to ye value 
of 1600 L., vnto Mr. Fenwick. We willingly disbursed 
the sum forementioned; wch tho' it hath much op- 
pressed vs, ye could we but haue enjoyed what he ex- 
pected, it would haue satisfied; but now we see orselues 
as naked as before, haueing neither Fattent or Coppy 
of it, not ought elce yt may ensure vs of future con- 
tinuance of or present privilidges. And therefore are 
necessitated from several other respects to lay out 
orselues, and to improve all the interests yt we can 
raise in or natiue soyle, for obtaineing reliefe in this 
or state and condition, wh humane frailty hath in a 
great measure cast vs into. Had we not bene too 
credulous and confident of ye goodness and faithful- 
nes of that Gent: we might possibly haue bin at a better 
pass." 

In the letter to Lord Say and Seal, who was 
at the time the sole survivor of the Warwick 



210 WadswoHh 

patentees, the following reference was made to 
the agreement with Fenwick : 

"Mr. George Fenwick took possession of Saybrook 
Fort, there resideing for certain or severall years; at 
length he was moved for ends best known to himself to 
returne to England, and thereupon propounded by him- 
self, or agent, the sale of th^ Fort, with the Housing 
there, and several appertenances, together with all the 
Lands on the River, and so to the Narragansett 
Bay, with jurisdiction power to this Colony, 
which was exceedingly opposed by severall 
amongst us, whom some of us have heard to 
affirm that such a thing would be very dis- 
tastfull to your Honour, with the rest of the noble 
Pattentees, who had very boutifuU intentions to this 
Colony nevertheless, tho there was a stopp for the 
present, yett in some short time, the business of pur- 
chase was revived by Mr. Fenwick, and expressions 
to this purpose given out by him or his agents, or 
both, that he had power to dispose of the premises, 
the rest of the Pattentees deserting, it fell into his 
hands by agreement; and in case the Towns on the 
River, refused to comply with such terms as he pro- 
posed for the purchasing of the said Fort, &c., itt was 
frequently reported that he proposed either to impose! 
customes on the River, or make sale thereof to the 
Dutch, our noxious nighbours, at last for our peace] 
and settlement and security (as we hoped) we made 
by our Committee, an agreement with the said Mr. 
Fenwick, a coppie whereof is ready to be presented 
unto your Honnour, which cost this River, one thousand 
six hundred pounds or thereabouts, wherein your 
Honnour may see the great abuse that we received at 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 211 

Mr. Fenwick's hand, receiving a vast sum from a poor 
people, and we scarcely att all advantaged thereby; 
may we judge our condition worse then if we had con- 
tented ourselves with the patronage of the grand Pat- 
tentees, for we have not so much as a coppy of a 
Pattent to secure our standing as a commonwealth, nor 
to ensure us for the continuance of our rights and 
priviledges and immunities, which we thought the juris- 
diction power and authority which Mr. Fenwick had 
engaged to us, and we paid for at a dear rate, nor any 
thing under his hand to engage him and his heirs, to 
the performance of that which was aimed at and in- 
tended in our purchase, the lands up the River for a 
long tract, the Massachusetts Colony doth challenge, 
and have run the line, which as they say, falls into 
one of our Towns; on the other side towards Narra- 
gansett, we know not how to claime, being destitute of 
Pattent and a coppie to decide the bounds." ' 

* The statements made in the appeal, petition and let- 
ters quoted are admirable examples of the equivocating 
diplomacy which earned for Connecticut, the sobriquet 
of the Nutmeg State as related by Judge Haliburton 
in his satirical articles which appeared in 1835 and 
were republished in book form in 1837 under the title 
of "The Clockmaker or the Sayings and Doings of Sam 
Slick of Slickville," and which created a feeling of 
distrust in the councils of the sister colonies, the most 
glaring out-cropping of which appeared in the will of 
Lewis Morris of Morrisania, N. Y., who wrote, in 
1762: 

"It is my desire that my sone, Gouverneur Morris, 
may have the best education that is to be had in Eur- 
ope or America, but my express will and directions 
are that he never be sent for that purpose to the 
Colony of Connecticut lest he should imbibe in his 
youth that low craft and cunning so incident to the 
people of that country which is so interwoven in their 



212 Wadsworth 

The draft of instructions to the Governor re- 
quested that the following be made patentees: 
"the present Gouevnour, Dep. Gouevnour, Mr. 
Henry Clark, Mr. Samll Willis, Mr. Mathew 
Allyn, Mr. Richard Treat, Mr. William Phelps, 
Nathan Gold, together with their associates here- 
after named, Mrs. John Warham, Samll Stone, 
John Whiting, Samll Hooker, James Fitch, Rich 
Lord, Henry Woolcot, John Steele, Edw. Stebbin, 
John Talcot, Benjamin Nubery, Danll Clarkw, 
Mathew Campfield, Willm Wadsworth, John 
Hawley, John Allyn. Before his departure, how- 
ever, this list was changed to read as follows: 
'John Winthrop, Esqr, and Maior John Mason, 
Esqr, Samll Willis, Henry Clark, Math Allyn, 
William Phelps, Richard Treat, Nathan Gold, 
John Talcot, Daniell Clark, John Deming Senr, 
Anthony Howkins, Robert Warner, John Clark 
Senr, Robert Royce, Phillip Groues, Jehu Burr,. 
Mathew Campfield,'^ my father being placed on 

constitutions that all their art cannot disguise it from 
the world, though many of them under the sanctified 
garb of religion have endeavored to impose themselves 
on the world for honest men." 

At the time these letters were written the members 
of the General Court knew that Fenwick had not sold 
a jurisdiction right, but only made a promise if it came 
in his power, while the same Court in 1660 exacted 
500 pounds from his sister Elizabeth before it would 
release his estate. 

' By comparing the above with the Charter on page 
216 it will be found that still other changes were made 
in the list of patentees. 






1 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 213 

Committee with Captain Lord, Henry Woolcot, 
John Allyn, and Mathew Allyn to order and dis- 
pose of the 'pay'^ that was to come to the colony 
from Captain Cullick so as to meet the bills 
charged to the colony by the Governor while in 
pursuance of the patent in England. 

In addition to the foregoing Governor Win- 
throp also carried with him to London the Indian 
deed* which Sequassen gave the founders of the 
colony under the Wyllys oak and a copy of John 

' "Pay" was barter, property at the prices which the 
General Court had affixed to it in acceptances for taxes 
for the year. "Money" was metallic currency or wam- 
pum for the token money. "Pay or Money" was 
property at rates fixed by the parties, not by the Gen- 
eral Court. "Trust" was a price with time given. Pay- 
ment "in Specie" meant payment in articles specified by 
the agreement or, in default of that, in articles at rates 
specified by the General Court's acts. — Johnson's Con- 
necticut. 

^The following reference to this Indian deed has 
been found in a decision rendered in 1754 by Roger 
Wolcott, then County Court Judge, in the case Sam- 
uel Flagg vs. John Ledger and Wm. Hooker: "The 
Indian deed of July 5, 1670, is of the same guise. We 
never look upon things well until we consider the time 
and circumstances that attend them. There was now 
no need of the purchase. The deed of itself declares 
the land was purchased in 1636. but that the deed was 
out of the way — no wonder such management and 
design — and that it had been laid before the King with 
other purchases of 1662 and by him found sufficient as 
purchased lands to invest him with a good title to it 
which title he had granted to the corporation in 1662." 
Roger Wolcott was Deputy Governor of Connecticut 
from 1742 to 1750 and Governor from 1751 to 1753. 



214 Wadsworth 

Mason's narrative of the Pequot war that gave 
Connecticut a claim to their lands by right of 
conquest. 

Having decided to take ship from New Amster- 
dam (New York) the Governor left Hartford 
early in July, stopping on the way at Guilford, 
New Haven and Milford to confer with a few 
of the leaders in the New Haven Colony, a num- 
ber of whom were not in accord with the Daven- 
port system of government. As to the under- 
standing arrived at, nothing has ever been said, 
but it was at a later date generally understood 
that William Leete, of Guilford, who was at 
the time the Governor of New Haven, was in 
favor of having the charter cover both of the 
colonies, as New Haven's tardiness in declar- 
ing its allegiance to the King, as well as the 
part its leading men, Leete being of the number, 
had taken in giving comfort and shelter to the 
Regicides, Whalley and Goffe, would at least 
during Charles' reign, stand in the way of procur- 
ing a charter, v/hile they were, should the planta- 
tion remain without one, apt to be joined to one of 
the other colonies. 

Governor Winthrop sailed from New Amster- 
dam July 23, 1661,^ in the De Trouw and noth^ 

^ The following item appears in the New Amsterdam 
book of Monthly Payments: "July 18, 1660, 27 lb. 
Powder to salute Gov. Winthrop coming here from the 
Fresh River to proceed in the Trou to Fatherland." 



I 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 215 

ing more was heard of him or his mission until 
the following summer, when Henry Wolcott re- 
turned with a letter dated May 13, in which the 
Governor said that the charter for the colony 
had passed the great seal ^ and that it was ''as 
full and large for bounds and privileges as could 
be desired." At the same time he also advised 
John Talcott, the Treasurer of the Colony, that 
he had agreed with three London merchants,^ 
who had supplied him with money to meet the 
necessary expenses in procuring the charter, to 
be paid the same in wheat and pease delivered in 
New London. 

The Charter followed in due season and, after 
being shown to the commissioners of the New 
England colonies when they met at Boston Sep- 
tember 4, 1662,^ was publicly read to the freemen 

*The Charter bears date April 23, 1662. It passed the 
great seal May 10, 1662. 

*The merchants were Edward Cowes, Giles Silvester 
and William Maskeline. They advanced 500 pounds on 
the Colony's letter of credit, accepting a bill drawn on 
the Treasurer for "Two Thousand Bushels, Winchester 
Measure, of good and well conditioned wheat, at three 
shillings and six pence p bushell, and Twelve hundred 
Bushells of pease, at two shillings and six pence p 
bushell, all which amount to Five hundred pounds 
sterling." This grain was delivered to Philip Best and 
Edward Paule aboard the John and Robert, December 
I, 1662. 

' Simon Bradstreet and John Norton brought the 
charter from London to Boston and gave it to Samuel 
Wyllys and John Talcott, the Connecticut representa- 
tives at the above meeting. 



216 Wadsworth 

of Connecticut in Hartford on October 4, 1662, 
when it was declared to belong to them and their 
descendants forever. The following is a copy 
of it: 

Charles the second, by the grace of GOD, King of 
England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of 
the Faith, &c. To all to whom these presents shall 
come, GREETING. 

Whereas by the several navigations, discoveries and 
successful plantations of divers of our loving subjects 
of this our realm of England, several lands, islands, 
places, colonies and plantations have been obtained and 
settled in that part of the continent of America, called 
New England, and thereby the trade and commerce 
there, hath been of late years, much increased: And 
whereas we have been informed by the humble petition 
of our trusty and well beloved John Winthrop, John 
Mason, Samuel Wyllys, Henry Clarke, Matthew Allyn, 
John Tapping, Nathan Gold, Richard Treat, Richard 
Lord, Henry Wolcott, John Talcott, Daniel Clarke, 
John Ogden, Thomas Wells, Obadiah Bruen, John 
Clarke, Anthony Hawkins, John Deming and Matthew 
Camfield, being persons principally interested in our 
colony or plantation of Connecticut, in New England, 
that the same colony, or the greatest part thereof was 
purchased and obtained for great and valuable consid- 
erations, and some other part thereof gained by con- 
quest, and with much difficulty, and at the only en- 
deavours, expence, and charges of them and their as- 
sociates, and those under whom they claim, subdued 
and improved, and thereby become a considerable en- 
largement and addition of our dominions and interest 
there. 














CHARLES II 
(From the Charter! 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 219 

NOW KNOW YE, That in consideration thereof, 
and in regard, the said colony is remote from other the 
English plantations in the places aforesaid, and to the 
end the afifairs and business which shall from time to 
time happen to arise concerning the same, may be duly 
ordered and managed, we have thought fit, and at the 
humble petition of the persons aforesaid, and are gra- 
ciously pleased to create and make them a body politic 
and corporate, with the powers and privileges herein 
after mentioned; and accordingly our will and pleasure 
is, and of our special grace, certain knowledge, and 
mere notion, we have ordained, constituted and de- 
clared, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and 
successors, do ordain, constitute and declare, that they 
the said John Winthrop, John Mason, Samuel Wyllys, 
Henry Clarke, Matthew Allyn, John Tapping, Nathan 
Gold, Richard Treat, Richard Lord, Henry Wolcott, 
John Talcott, Daniel Clarke, John Ogden, Thomas 
Wells, Obadiah Bruen, John Clarke, Anthony Hawkins, 
John Deming, and Matthew Camfield, and all such 
others as now are, or hereafter shall be admitted and 
made free of the company and society of our colony of 
Connecticut, in America, shall from time to time, and 
for ever hereafter, be one body corporate and politic, 
in fact and name, by the name of Governour and com- 
pany of the English colony of Connecticut in New 
England, in America; and that by the same name, they 
and their successors shall and may have perpetual suc- 
cession, and shall and may be persons able and capable 
in the law, to plead and be impleaded, to answer and 
to be answered unto, to defend and be defended in all 
and singular suits, causes, quarrels, matters, actions 
and things, of what kind or nature soever; and also to 
have, take, possess, acquire, and purchase lands, tene- 



220 Wadsworih 

ments, or hereditaments, or any goods, or chattels, and 
the same to lease, grant, . demise, alien, bargain, sell, 
and dispose of, as other our liege people of this our 
realm of England, or any other corpQration or body 
politic within the same may lawfully do. 

And further, That the said Gouvernour and company, 
and their successors, shall and may for ever hereafter 
have a common seal, to serve and use for all causes, 
matters, things, and affairs whatsoever, of them and 
their successors, and the same seal, to alter, change, 
break, and make new from time to time, at their wills 
and pleasures, as they shall think fit. 

And further. We will and ordain, and by these pres- 
ents, for us, our heirs and successors, do declare and 
appoint. That for the better ordering and managing of 
the affairs and business of the said company and their 
successors, there shall be one Gouvernour, one Deputy- 
Gouvernour, and twelve Assistants, to be from time to 
time constituted, elected and chosen out of the freemen 
of the said company for the time being, in such manner 
and form as hereafter in these presents is expressed, 
which said ofificers shall apply themselves to take care 
for the best disposing and ordering of the general busi- 
ness and affairs of and concerning the land and heredi- 
taments herein after mentioned to be granted, and the 
plantation thereof, and the government of the people 
thereof: And for the better execution of our royal 
pleasure herein, we do for us, our heirs and successors, 
assign, name, constitute and appoint the aforesaid John 
Winthrop to be the first and present Gouvernour of the 
said company, and the said John Mason, to be the 
Deputy-Gouvernour, and the said Samuel Wyllys, 
Matthew Allyn, Nathan Gold, Henry Clarke, Richard 
Treat, John Ogden, John Tapping, John Talcott, 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 221 

Thomas Wells, Henry Wolcott, Richard Lord and Dan- 
iel Clarke, to be the twelve present Assistants of the 
said company, to continue in the said several offices 
respectively, until the second Thursday, which shall be 
in the month of October now next coming. 

And further, We will, and by these presents for us, 
our heirs, and successors, do ordain and grant, That 
the Gouvernour of the said company for the time be- 
ing, or in his absence by occasion of sickness, or other- 
wise by his leave or permission, the Deputy-Gouver- 
nour for the time being, shall and may from time to 
time upon all occasions, give orders for the assembling 
of the said company, and calling them together to con- 
sult and advise of the business and affairs of the said 
company, and that for ever hereafter, twice in every 
year, That is to say, on every second Thursday in Octo- 
ber, and on ever 2d Thursday in May, or oftener in case 
it shall be requisite; the assistants, and freemen of the 
said company, or such of them (not exceeding two per- 
sons from each place, town or city) who shall be from 
time to time thereunto elected or deputed by the major 
part of the freemen of the respective towns, cities, and 
places for which they shall be elected or deputed, shall 
have a general meeting, or assembly, then and there to 
consult and advise in and about the affairs and busi- 
ness of the said company: and that the Gouvernour, or 
in his absence the Deputy-Gouvernour of the said 
company for the time being, and such of the assistants 
and freemen of the said company as shall be so elected 
or deputed, and be present at such meeting or as- 
sembly, or the greatest number of them, whereof the 
Gouvernour or Deputy-Gouvernour, and six of the as- 
sistants, at least to be seven, shall be called the general 
assembly, and shall have full power and authority to 



222 Wadsworth 

alter and change their days and times of meeting, or 
general assemblies, for electing the gouvernour, deputy- 
gouvernour, and assistants, or other officers, or any 
other courts, assemblies or meetings, and to choose, 
nominate and appoint such and so many others persons 
as they shall think fit, and shall be willing to accept 
the same, to be free of the said company, and body 
politic, and them into the same to admit; and to elect 
and constitute such officers as they shall think fit and 
requisite for the ordering, managing and disposing of 
the affairs of the said gouvernour and company and 
their successors. 

And we do hereby for us, our heirs and successors, 
establish and ordain, That once in a year for ever here- 
after, namely, the second Thursday of May, the gouver- 
nour, deputy-gouvernour, and assistants of the said 
company, and other officers of the said company, or 
such of them as the said general assembly shall think 
fit, shall be in the said general court and assembly to 
be held from that day or time, newly chosen for the 
year ensuing, by such greater part of the said com- 
pany for the time being, then and there present; and if 
the gouvernour, deputy-gouvernour, and assistants by 
these presents appointed, or such as hereafter be newly 
chosen into their rooms, or any of them, or any other 
of the officers to be appointed for the said company 
shall die, or be removed from his or their several of- 
fices or places before said general day of election, whom 
we do hereby declare for any misdemeanor or default, 
to be removable by the gouvernour, assistants, and 
companv. or such greater part of them in any of the 
said public courts to be assembled, as is aforesaid, 
that then and in every case, it shall and may be lawful 
to and for the gouvernour, deputy-gouvernour, and as- 



I 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 223 

sistants, and company aforesaid, or such greater part 
of them to be assembled, as is aforesaid, in any of their 
assemblies, to proceed to a new election of one or 
more of their company, in the room or place, rooms 
or places of such gouvernour, deputy-gouvernour, as- 
sistant, or other officer or officers so dying or removed, 
according to their discretions, and immediately upon 
and after such election or elections made of such Gouv- 
ernour, deputy-gouvernour, assistant or assistants, or 
any other officer of the said company, in manner and 
form aforesaid, the authority, office and power before 
given to the former gouvernour, deputy-gouvernour, or 
other officer or officers so removed, in whose stead and 
place new shall be chosen, shall as to him and them, 
and every of them respectively cease and determine. 

Provided also, And our will and pleasure is. That as 
well such as are by these presents appointed to be the 
present gouvernour, deputy-gouvernour, and assistants 
of the said company, as those that shall succeed them, 
and all other officers to be appointed and chosen, as 
aforesaid, shall, before they undertake the execution of 
their said offices and places respectively, take their 
several and respective corporal oaths for the due and 
faithful performance of their duties in their several of- 
fices and places, before such person or persons as are 
by these presents hereafter appointed to take and re- 
ceive the same; That is to say. That the said John 
Winthrop, who is herein before nominated and ap- 
pointed the present gouvernour of the said company, 
shall take the said oath before one or more of the mas- 
ters of our court of chancery for the time being, unto 
which master of chancery, we do by these presents give 
full power and authority to administer the said oath to 
the said John Winthrop accordingly: and the said John 



224 Wadsworth 

Mason, who is herein before nominated and appointed 
the present deputy-gouvernour of the said company, 
shall take the said oath before the said John Winthrop, 
or any two of the assistants of the said company, unto 
whom we do by these presents give full power and au- 
thority to administer the said oath to the said John 
Mason accordingly: and the said Samuel Wyllys, Henry 
Clarke, Matthew Allyn, John Tapping, Nathan Gold, 
Richard Treat, Richard Lord, Henry Wolcott, John 
Talcott, Daniel Clarke, John Ogden, and Thomas 
Wells, who are herein before nominated and appointed 
the present assistants of the said company, shall take 
the oath before the said John Winthrop, and John 
Mason, or one of them, to whom we do hereby give 
full power and authority to administer the same accord- 
ingly. And our further will and pleasure is, That all 
and every gouvernour, or deputy-gouvernour to be 
elected and chosen by virtue of these presents, shall 
take the said oath before two or more of the assistants 
of the said company for the time being, unto whom we 
do by these presents give full power and authority to 
give and administer the said oath accordingly; and the 
said assistants, and every of them, and all and every 
other officer or officers to be hereafter chosen from 
time to time, to take the said oath before the gouver- 
nour, or deputy-gouvernour for the time being, unto 
which gouvernour or deputy-gouvernour, we do by 
these presents give full power and authority to admin- 
ister the same accordingly. 

And further. Of our more ample grace, certain knowl- 
edge, and mere notion, we have given and granted, and 
by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, do 
give and grant unto the said gouvernour and company 
of the English colony of Connecticut, in New England, 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 225 

in America, and to every inhabitant there, and to every 
person or persons trading thither, and to every such 
person and persons as are or shall be free of the said 
colony, full power and authority from time to time, and 
at all times hereafter to take ship, transport and carry 
away for and towards the plantation and defence of 
the said colony, such of our loving subjects and strang- 
ers, as shall or will willingly accompany them in, and 
to their said colony and plantation, except such per- 
son and persons, as are or shall be therein restrained 
by us, our heirs and successors; and also to ship and 
transport all, and all manner of goods, chattels, mer- 
chandizes, and other things whatsoever that are or 
shall be useful or necessary for the inhabitants of the 
said colony, and may lawfully be transported thither: 
Nevertheless, not to be discharged of payment to us, 
our heirs and successors, of the duties, customs and 
subsidies which are or ought to be paid or payable for 
the same. 

And further. Our will and pleasure is, and we do 
for us, our heirs and successors, ordain, declare, and 
grant unto the said gouvernour and company, and their 
successors, that all, and every subjects of us, our heirs, 
or successors, which shall go to inhabit within the 
said colony, and every of their children, which shall 
happen to be born there, or on the seas in going thith- 
er, or returning from thence, shall have and enjoy all 
liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects 
within any of the dominions of us, our heirs or suc- 
cessors, to all intents, constructions and purposed 
whatsoever, as if they and every of them were born 
within the realm of England; and we do authorize and 
impower the gouvernour, or in his absence the dep- 
uty-gouvernour for the time being, to appoint two or 



226 



Wadsworth 



more of the said assistants at any of their courts or 
assemblies to be held as aforesaid, to have power and 
authority to administer the oath of supremacy and 
obedience to all and every person and persons which 
shall at any time or times hereafter go or pass into 
the said colony of Connecticut, unto which said as- 
sistants so to be appointed as aforesaid, we do by these 
presents give full power and authority to administer 
the said oath accordingly. 

And we do further, of our special grace, certain 
knowledge, and mere motion, give and grant unto the 
said gouvernour and company of the English colony 
of Connecticut, in New England, in America, and their 
successors, that it shall and may be lawful to and for 
the gouvernour, or deputy-gouvernour, and such of 
the assistants of the said company for the time being 
as shall be assembled in any of the general courts 
aforesaid, or in any courts to be especially summoned 
or assembled for that purpose, or the greater part of 
them, whereof the governour, or deputy-gouvernour, 
and six of the assistants to be always seven, to erect 
and make such judicatories, for the hearing and de- 
termining of all actions, causes, matters and things 
happening within the said colony or plantation, and 
which shall be in dispute, and depending there, as they 
shall think fit, and convenient, and also from time to 
time to make, ordain, and establish all manner of 
wholesome, and reasonable laws, statutes, ordinances, 
directions and instructions, not contrary to the laws 
of this realm of England, as well for settling the forms 
and ceremonies of government, and magistracy, fit 
and necessary for the said plantation, and the inhabi- 
tants there, as for naming and stiling all sorts of offi- 
cers, both superior and inferior, which they shall find 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 227 

needful for the government and plantation of the said 
colony, and the distinguishing and setting forth of the 
several duties, powers and limits of every such office 
and place, and the forms of such oaths not being con- 
trary to the laws and statutes of this our realm of Eng- 
land, to be administered for the execution of the said 
severall offices and places as also for the disposing 
and ordering of the election of such of the said offi- 
cers as are to be annually chosen, and of such others 
as shall succeed in case of death or removal, and ad- 
ministering the said oath to the new elected officers, 
and granting necessary commissions, and for imposi- 
tion of lawful fines, mulcts, imprisonment or other 
punishment upon offenders and delinquents according 
to the course of other corporations within this our 
kingdom of England, and the same laws, fines, mulcts, 
and executions, to alter, change, revoke, annul, re- 
lease, or pardon under their common seal, as by the 
said general assembly, or the major part of them shall 
be thought fit, and for the directing, ruling and dispos- 
ing of all other matters and things, whereby our said 
people inhabitants there, may be so religiously, peace- 
ably and civilly governed, as their good life and or- 
derly conversation may win and invite the natives of 
the country to the knowledge and obedience of the 
only true God, and the Saviour of mankind and the 
Christian faith, which in our royal intentions, and the 
adventurers free possession, is the only and principal 
end of the plantation; willing, commanding, and re- 
quiring, and by these presents for us, our heirs and 
successors, ordaining and appointing, that all such 
laws, statutes, and ordinances, instructions, imposi- 
tions and directions as shall be so made by the gouv- 
ernour, deputy-gouvernour, and assistants as aforesaid, 



228 



Wadsworth 



and published in writing under their common seal, 
shall carefully and duly be observed, kept, performed, 
and put in execution, according to the true intent and 
meaning of the same, and these our letters patent, or 
the duplicate, or exemplification thereof, shall be to 
all and every such officers, superiors and inferiors 
from time to time, for the putting of the same orders, 
law^s, statutes, ordinances, instructions and directions 
in due execution against us, our heirs and successors, 
a sufficient warrant and discharge. 

And we do further for us, our heirs and successors, 
give and grant unto the said gouvernour and com- 
pany, and their successors, by these presents, that it 
shall and may be lawful to, and for the chief com- 
manders, gouvernours and officers of the said com- 
pany for the time being, who shall be resident in the 
parts of New England hereafter mentioned, and oth- 
ers inhabiting there, by their leave, admittance, ap- 
pointment, or direction, from time to time, and at all 
times hereafter, for their special defence and safety, to 
assemble, martial-array, and put in war-like posture 
the inhabitants of the said colony, and to commission- 
ate, impower, and authorize such person or persons, 
as they shall think fit, to lead and conduct the said in- 
habitants, and to encounter, expulse, repel and resist 
by force of arms, as well by sea as by land, andj 
also to kill, slay, and destroy by all fitting ways, enter- I 
prizes, and means whatsoever, all and every such per- 
son or persons as shall at any time hereafter attempt j 
or enterprize the destruction, invasion, detriment, or i 
annoyance of the said inhabitants or plantation, and to 
use and exercise the law martial in such cases only! 
as occasion shall require; and to take or surprize byj 
all ways and means whatsoever, all and every suchj 



The Patent, Charier and Deed 229 

person or persons, with their ships, armour, ammuni- 
tion and other goods of such as shall in such hostile 
manner invade or attempt the defeating of the said 
plantation, or the hurt of the said company and inhab- 
itants, and upon just causes to invade and destroy the 
natives, or other enemies of the said colony. 

Nevertheless, Our will and pleasure is, and we do 
hereby declare unto all christian kings, princes, and 
states, That if any persons which shall hereafter 
be of the said company or plantations, or any other b}' 
appointment of the said gouvernour and company for 
the time being, shall at any time or times hereafter 
rob or spoil by sea or by land, and do any hurt, vio- 
lence, or unlawful hostility to any of the subjects of 
us, our heirs or successors, or any of the subjects of 
any prince or state being then in league with us, our 
heirs or successors, upon complaint of such injury done 
to any such prince or state, or their subjects, we, our 
heirs and successors will make open proclamation with- 
in any parts of our realm of England fit for that pur- 
pose, that the person or persons committing any such 
robbery or spoil, shall within the time limited by such 
proclamation, make full restitution or satisfaction of 
all such injuries done or committed, so as the said 
prince, or others so complaining may be fully satisfied 
and contented; and if the said person or persons who 
shall commit any such robbery or spoil shall not make 
satisfaction accordingly, within such time so to be 
limited, that then it shall and may be lawful for us, 
our heirs and successors, to put such person or persons 
out of our allegiance and protection; and that it shall 
and may be lawful and free for all princes or others to 
prosecute with hostility such offenders, and every of 
them, their, and every of their procursors, aiders, abet- 
tors and counsellors in that behalf. 



230 Wadsworth 

Provided also, And our express will and pleasure is, 
and we do by these presents for us, our heirs, and 
successors, ordain and appoint, That these presents 
shall not in any manner hinder any of our loving sub- 
jects whatsoever to use and exercise the trade of fish- 
ing upon the coast of New England, in America, but 
they and every or any of them shall have full and free 
power and liberty to continue, and use the said trade 
of fishing upon the said coast, in any of the seas there- 
unto adjoining, or any arms of the seas, or salt water 
rivers where they have been accustomed to fish, and 
to build and set up on the waste land belonging to 
the said colony of Connecticut, such wharves, stages, 
and work-houses as shall be necessary for the salting, 
drying and keeping of their fish to be taken, or gotten 
upon that coast, anything in these presents contained 
to the contrary notwishstanding. 

And know ye further. That we, of our abundant 
grace, certain knowledge, and mere notion, have given, 
granted, and confirmed, and by these presents for us, 
our heirs and successors, do give, grant and confirm 
unto the said gouvernour and company, and their suc- 
cessors, all that part of our dominions in New Eng- 
land in America, bounded on the east by the Narra- 
ganset River, commonly called Narraganset Bay, where 
the said river falleth into the sea; and on the north by 
the line of the Massachusetts plantation; and on the 
south by the sea; and in longitude as the line of the 
Massachusetts colony, running from east to west, that 
is to say, from the said Narraganset Bay on the east, 
to the south sea on the west part, with the islands 
thereunto adjoining, together with all firm lands, soils, 
grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, fishings, mines, 
minerals, precious stones, quarries, and all and sin- 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 231 

gular other commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, 
privileges, franchises, pre-eminences, and hereditaments 
whatsoever, within the said tract, bounds, lands, and 
islands aforesaid, or to them or any of them belong- 
ing. 

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the same unto the 
said gouvernour and company, their successors and as- 
signs for ever, upon trust, and for the use and ben- 
efit of themselves and their associates, freemen of the 
said colony, their heirs and assigns, to be holden of 
us, our heirs and successors, as of our manor of East 
Greenwich, in free and common soccage, and not in 
capite, nor by knights, service, yielding and paying 
therefore to us, our heirs and successors, only the 
fifth part of all the ore of gold and silver which from 
time to time, and at all times hereafter, shall be there 
gotten, had, or obtained, in lieu of all services, duties 
and demands whatsoever, to be to us, our heirs, or 
successors therefore, or thereout rendered, made, or 
paid. 

And lastly. We do for us, our heirs and successors, 
grant to the said gouvernour and company, and their 
successors, by these presents, That these our letters 
patents, shall be firm, good and effectual in the law, 
to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever, 
according to our true intent and meaning herein before 
declared, as shall be construed, reputed and adjudged 
most favorable on the behalf, and for the best benefit, 
and behoof of the said gouvernour and company, and 
their successors, although express mention of the true 
yearly value or certainty of the premises, or any of 
them, or of any other gifts or grants by us, or by any 
of our progenitors, or predecessors, heretofore made 
to the said gouvernour and company of the English 



1 



232 Wadsworth 



colony of Connecticut, in New England, America, 
aforesaid, in these presents is not made, or any statute, 
act, ordinance, provision, proclamation, or restriction 
heretofore had, made, enacted, ordained, or provided, 
or any other matter, cause, or thing whatsoever, to the 
contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding. 

In witness whereof. We have caused these our let- 
ters to be made patents. Witness ourself at West- 
minster, the three and twentieth day of April, in the 
fourteenth year of our reign. (1662.) 

By writ of Privy Seal. 

HOWARD. 

When the Charter was read to the freemen 

assembled in the Meeting House yard it was 

by common consent placed for safe keeping with 

Mr. Samuel Wyllys, whose father was the third 

Governor of the Colony, Captain John Talcott 

and Lieutenant John Allyn,^ and at the first meet- 

*John Allyn was a son of Matthew Allyn, one of 
the original proprietors of Hartford, but subsequently 
of Windsor, where he removed after being excommu- 
nicated by the church. He married Ann, daughter of 
Henry Smith, of Springfield. By her he had six daugh- 
ters. One of them married John Gardiner, of Gardin- 
er's Island, another was the second wife of Joseph 
Whiting, the Treasurer of the colony, and another the 
wife of William Whiting, Marshal of the colony. John 
Allyn was in office almost continuously from 1659, 
when he was chosen town clerk of Hartford, until his 
death, the following reference to his services appear- 
ing on his tombstone in the old burying ground: 

"Here lyes interred the body of the Honourable Lt. 
Col. John Allyn, who served His Generation in the 
Capacity of a Magistrate, Secretary of the Colony of 
Connecticut, 34 years, who dyed Nov. 6, in the year 
1696." 



Tite Patent, Charter and Deed 233 

ing of the General Court after Governor Win- 
throp's return from England he was requested to 
deliver the duplicate to the same parties.^ The 
two Charters remained in their hands from that 
time until 1687, when both of them disappeared 
for a period. 

After the return of Governor Winthrop it was 
learned that upon his arrival in London he re- 
paired to the home of William Whiting in Cole- 
man Street near St. Stephen's church. He was a 

* The Colonial Records make the following reference 
to the custody of the Charters: 

"Oct. 9, 1662. The Patent or Charter was this day 
publiquely read in audience of ye Freemen, and de- 
clared to belong to them and their successors, and ye 
freeman made choice of Mr. Wyllys, C: John Talcott 
and Lt. John Allyn to take the Charter into their cus- 
tody, in behalf of ye freemen, who are to have an oath 
administered to them by the General Assembly, for 
ye due discharge of the trust committed to them." 

"August 19, 1663. This Court doth desire that those 
Friends appoynted to keepe the Charter do allso re- 
ceive the Duplicate into their custody, and keepe it in 
behalfe of ye Freemen of this Corporation: and the 
Woshipfull Governour is desired to deliver the sd Du- 
plicate to the said Friends or either of them." 

If the Charter and duplicate were brought to Con- 
necticut as would be inferred from the above orders, 
there must have been a third copy, although there is no 
record of it having been made, as in September, 1686, 
the following appears in the instructions sent to Wil- 
liam Whiting, the Colony's agent in England: "You 
are to have ye duplicate of our Charter ready to be ex- 
hibited in Court if need be (wch by Governour Winthrop 
was left with Mr. James Porter of London and since by 
us he was ordered to deliver it to you." 



234 Wadsworfh 

merchant, like his father, who died in Hartford 
in 1647, being at the time Treasurer of the Colony, 
as well as a partner of Governor Hopkins, their 
dealings extending from Virginia to Piscataqua, 
where Whiting had interests in common with 
Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke and George 
Wyllys. As soon as he was comfortably settled 
in his new surroundings, the Governor, in accord- 
ance with the instructions of the General Court, 
began to make inquiries as to the whereabouts 
of those who were interested in the Warwick 
patent in the hope of procuring a copy of same so as 
to determine what privileges, rights and immunities 
were granted in it. After diligent inquiry he learned 
that Lord Say and Seal, at the time Lord Privy 
Seal, was the sole survivor. Mr. Jessup, who 
had acted as clerk for the corporation, was also 
supposed to be in London, but the Governor was 
unable to find him until Lord Say and Seal had 
interested the Earl of Manchester in the project. 
At this date "old Subtlety" was in very poor 
health. He was excused from attendance at 
Court, his general weakness and an attack of his 
old enemy, the gout, confining him to his estate 
during the latter part of autumn and fully half 
of the winter, and while he had no longer an ac- 
tive interest in the colony which he and his asso- 
ciates planned in America over a quarter of a 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 235 

century before, he still had a friendly feeling for 
New England and never failed when before the 
King and Council to advance its interests. 

Upon advice as to the whereabouts of Lord 
Say and Seal Governor Winthrop wrote him, and 
while he was unable to favor him at that period 
as he did later with his presence at court, he 
sent him letters to the Earl of Manchester,^ who 
soon put the Colonial Governor in the way of 
finding Mr. Jessup and also to push his acquain- 
tance among those w^ho brought him and his mis- 
sion to the notice of the King. From Mr. Jessup 
the Governor learned that Edward Hopkins had 
a copy of the Warwick patent and that access 
could be had to it, as well as his other colonial 
papers, by applying to his executor, Henry Dal- 
ley. The result of the visit has been referred to 
on a preceding page. 

Of the Governor's new acquaintances at 
Whitehall, no one gave him more assistance than 
the Earl of Sandwich, who was ever zealous in 
the affairs of others and negligent of his own. 
Both the King and his brother, the Duke of York, 
who was afterwards James H., knew that he did 
as much to bring about the Restoration as Monk, 

^ The Parliamentary General who was instrumental 
in the King's Restoration, became Chamberlain of the 
Household, a Privy Councillor and Chancellor of the 
University of Cambridge. He died in 1671. 



236 Wadsworth 

but for reasons unknown to them, although the 
wife of the old soldier never hesitated in her 
rough way to attribute it and many of his subse- 
quent acts to cowardice/ he allowed the bulk of 
the glory to go to the General who was created 
Duke of Albermarle for the part he played in this 
bloodless victory of the Royalists. 

The Earl of Sandwich was a descendant of the 
Montagues, who purchased Hinchenbrook from 
Sir Oliver Cromwell. He stood high in the coun- 
cils of the Commonwealth, one of the last acts 
of its governing powers being to appoint him a 
member of the Council of State, and with Monk 
a General at Sea, and at a time when he was in 
active correspondence v/ith the King and Duke 
of York in reference to placing the former on the 
throne. He also had the honor of bringing the 
King to England. 

* Pepys in his Diary quotes the Duchess of Albemarle 
as having said in the presence of twenty gentlemen 
"that she would have Montague sent once more to 
sea, before he goes his embassy, that we may sec 
whether he will make amends for his cowardice." 
(Jan. lo, 1666.) The same writer also refers to Gen- 
eral Monk (Duke of Albemarle) as "a dull heavy man," 
(March i, 1660) while he also says "I perceive his 
(Sir Edmund Montague) being willing to do all the 
honor in the world to Monk and to let him have all 
the honor of doing the business (that is, bringing in 
the King) though he will many times express his 
thought of him to be but a thick skulled fool." (May 
3, 1660.) 




EDWARD MONTAGUE 
(.First Earl of Sandwich) 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 239 

Upon the advice of the Earls of Manchester 

and Sandwich, and of which Lord Say and Seal 

at a later date expressed his approval, Governor 

Winthrop, in addition to presenting- the petition 

approved by the General Court of Connecticut, 

also asked for a renewal of the Warwick patent 

on account of the original having been destroyed 

in the Saybrook Fort fire,^ while the duplicate 

was with other papers lost when taken abroad 

by Lord Keeper Finch during King Charles I.'s 

troubles with the Parliament. The petitions 

^To the Kings Most Excellent Matie. 

The humble Peticon of John Winthrop Esqr. in the 
name and by Order of your Maties most Loyall, obed- 
ient and most dutifull Subjects, the Colony of Conecte- 
cut in New England in all humility 
Sheweth 

That your Maties Subjects of the said Colony of 
Conectecut at their greate expence in the beginning of 
the late unhappy Civil warr, became lawfully seized of 
all the Maineland and Islands, Bayes, Harbours, 
Creekes, Fresh Rivers Rivelits Mines Mineralls Quarries 
of Stones &c with Right of Government in and over all 
the said Colony, Situate and lying in the West and 
Southward parts of New England bounded on the East 
with the Norriganset Bay, on the North with the South 
Line of Mattechusets on the South with the Sea, and 
thence Westward to the Pacifique Sea, comprehending 
all that part of your Maties Dominions Westward of the 
said Norriganset Bay called New England, to the 
Fortieth Degree of Lattitude North from the Equator, 
all which they peaceably enjoyed in the right of the 
right Honorable the Lord Viscount Say and Scale and 
the Lord Brookes and other persons of Honour their 
Associates who were incorporated with the said Pattent 
about the Twelfth yeare of the Reigne of your Maties 



240 Wadsworth 

made rapid progress at court, as the Earl of Sand- 
wich at that period of all men knew how and 
when to approach His Majesty, who looked upon 
matters of state as burdens and stumbling blocks 
rolled in the way to interfere with his sports, long 
walks and still longer dalliance with his mis- 
tresses. The gallant Earl ever willing to follow 

Royall Father of Blessed memory, Which Colony was 
settled in a Competent Measure by the said Originall 
Pattentees at their greate expence in Transporting 
some hundred of Families, Cattle of all kindes ffortify- 
ing the said Colony, in which Settlem* your Mat'" 
Peticoner was employed in the Right of the said Lords 
and their Associates the first Pattentees. 

The said Lord Viscount Say and Scale Lord Brookes 
and their Associates the Lord Proprietors unwilling to 
make further disbursements on the said Colony did by 
their Agent George ffenwicke Esqr one of the said 
Proprietors make sale of the said Colony to the Peti- 
coner and the rest of the Colonic your Mat'^s good Sub- 
jects for a very valuable sume of money who have since 
built severall Towns and Villages which the Inhabitants 
have ever since peaceably enjoyed by virtue of their 
Purchase from the first Pattentees. 

But soe it is, the Originall Pattent being lost in a 
Fatall Fire at Saybrook fort in the said Colony and the 
Duplicate being lost amongst those papers carryed be- 
yond the Seas by the Lord Keeper Finch in the late 
Civill Troubles, Your Mamies Peticoner has recourse 
(upon your Mat'^s happy restoration) to the Grace and 
Clemency inherent in your Princely minde, and most 
humbly prayes the Reneual of the said Pattent under 
your Maties greate Seale. 

And yo*" Ma'ies Peticoner and all those concerned in 
the said Colony, as they are bound in duty shall ever 
pray for your Majesty. 

J. WiNTHROP 



The Patent, Chartei and Deed 241 

the King in his pleasures, even so far as to share 
in his vices, was also high in the good graces 
of the Countess of Castlemaine, who for many- 
years twisted the A'lerry Monarch around her 
thumb. 

It has been told, and I have no reason to doubt 
it, that this vacillating mistress of the King 
looked for a time with more than ordinary favor 
upon Governor Winthrop's mission, being fasci- 
nated with his recital of adventures and the won- 
ders of the New World, and in one of her flam- 
boyant moments begged of him for her cabinet 
the Indian deed, promising in return for the 
parchment bearing the totem of the Suckiag 
Indians, her influence to obtain a charter under 
the broad seal of England from her Sovereign 
Lord, King Charles 11. The Earl of Sandwich 
who was well acquainted with the petulant tem- 
per of the lady advised, aye, even insisted upon 
the Governor complying with her request, which 
was literally a demand, telling him that she would 
soon tire of the novelty and that he or one of his 
servants, almost all of whom were on friendly 
terms with the Castlemaine household, would get 
it for him as soon as the charter passed the seal. 
The Countess also proved true to her promise, 
and when Lord Say and Seal returned to court 
he found that the Connecticut Charter was as- 



242 Wadsworth 

sured, but death claimed him nine days before it 
was signed. 

In due time the Charter and duplicate passed 
the great seal, the former being forwarded to 
New England and the duplicate, from which a 
copy was made for the colony's agent in Lon- 
don, was retained by Governor Winthrop until he 
returned to Hartford in June, 1663. Prior to his 
departure from England he sought the Earl of 
Sandwich in order to recover the Indian deed, but 
found him dangerously ill, so bad in fact that his 
life was despaired of. Knowing that with the 
Charter the deed was of little or no value, except 
for sentimental reasons, the Governor left the 
matter in the hands of the colony's agent. He 
failed to secure it, although he ultimately learned 
that it was destroyed by a fire in the Castlemaine 
apartments.^ When the fragment of this story 
leaked out a few of the original planters insisted 
upon procuring another deed from the descend- 

* January 26, 1663-4. Pepys writes "Tom Killegrew 
told us of a fire last night in My Lady Castlemaine's 
lodging, which she did bid 40 pounds for one to ad- 
venture the fetching of a cabinet out, which at last 
was got to be done, and the fire at last quenched with- 
out doing much wrong." On January 20. four days 
prior to the fire, he also made note of the intimacy 
existing between the Countess and the Earl of Sand- 
wich, or as he worded it "My Lord Fitz Harding and 
the Hambletons and sometimes My Lord Sandwich 
they say have their snaps with her." 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 243 

ants of the Indians who had by right of inher- 
itance a claim to any of the lands included in the 
treaty of 1636. They were therefore summoned 
to Hartford, where on July 5, 1670, the following 
was drawn up and signed : 

"Whereas our predecessor, Sunckquasson, sachem of 
Suckiage, alias Hartford, did about the yeare sixteen 
hundred thirty six, by a writeing under his hand, pass 
over unto Mr. Samuel Stone and Mr. Wm. Goodwin, 
in the behalf of the present proprietors and owner of 
the lands belonging to the township of Hartford, all 
that part of his country from a tree marked N. F. 
which is the divident between Hartford and Wethers- 
field — we say from the afoarsayd tree on the south, 
till it meet with Windsor bounds on the north, and 
from the great river on the east, the whole bredth to 
run into the wilderness towards the west full six miles, 
which is to the place where Hartford and Farmington 
bounds meet; which grant of Sunckquasson, as occa- 
sion hath been, was by him renewed to the honoured 
John Haines, Esqr. and other the first magistrates of 
this place, and enlarged to the westward so far as his 
country went; which enlargement as well as his former 
grant was made in presence of many of the natives of 
the place and English inhabitants; and several! yeares 
after, about the time of the planting of Farmington 
in the yeare one thousand six hundred and forty, in a 
writeing made between the English and Pethus the 
sachem or gentleman of that place, there is a full 
mention of the aforesayd Sunckquasson his grant of his 
country to the magistrates of this place, which grant 
we are privy too; and we being the only successors 



244 



Wadsworth 



of Sunckquasson and proprietors (before the fore- 
mentioned sale) of the lands belonging to the town- 
ship of Hartford on the west side of the great river, 
being desired to confirm and pass over all our right 
and interest in the aforesayd lands to the present 
possessors of them, they informeing us that those 
writeings made by Sunckquasson before recited are 
at present out of the way, knowing what our pred- 
ecessor hath done, and what consideration he hath 
received for the same, — 

We, Masseeckcup and William squa, in behalfe of 
ourselves and Wawarme, the sister and onely heire of 
Sunckquasson, and Keepequam, Seacutt, Jack Spiner, 
Currecombe, Wehassatuck squa and Seacunck squa, 
the onely inhabitants that are surviving of the afoar- 
sayd lands, doe by these presents owne, acknowledge 
and declare, that Sunckquasson whoe was the sachem of 
Suckiage alias Hartford, and grand proprietor of the 
lands adjacent, did with the consent of those of us 
whoe were of age to declare our consent, and with the 
consent of the rest of the inhabitants of this place, 
about the year 1636, pass over unto Mr. Samuel Stone 
and Mr. Wm. Goodwine, in behalfe and for the use of 
themselves and their company, all the land from 
Wethersfield bounds on the south, to Windsor bounds 
on the north, and the whole bredth from Connecticutt 
river on the east six large miles into the wilderness on 
the west, which sayd grant was afterwards upon fur- 
ther consideration renewed and enlarged by the sayd 
Sunckquasson, upon the desire of the honoured Mr. 
Haines and the rest of the magistrates of this place; 
but we being informed that on the removeall of some 
of the gentlemen afoarmentioned, the papers and write- 
ings before specifyed are out of the way, and haveing 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 245 

now received of Mr. Samuel Willys, Capt. John Tall- 
cott, Mr. John Allyn and Mr. James Richards a farther 
grattification of near the value the land was esteemed 
at before the English came into these parts — to prevent 
all father trouble between ourselves and the inhabi- 
tants of Hartford, we the sayd Masseeckcup, William 
squa as afoarsayd, and Seacutt, Keepequam, Jack 
Spiner, Currecombe, Wehassatuck squa and Seacunck 
squa, upon the consideration forementioned by these 
presents have and doe fully, clearly and absolutely 
grant, bargain, sell, alien, enfeoflfe and confirme unto 
Mr. Samuel Willys, Capt. John Tallcott, Mr. John 
Allyn and Mr. James Richards, in behalfe of the rest 
of the proprietors of the land belonging to the town- 
ship of Hartford, their heires and assignes forever, all 
that parcell of land from a tree marked N. F. being a 
boundary between Wethersfield and Hartford on the 
south, to Windsor bounds on the north, and the whole 
bredth of land from Wethersfield to Windsor bounds 
from the great river on the east to runn into the wilder- 
ness westward full six miles, which is to the place 
where Hartford and Farmington bounds meet, — To 
have and to hold all the afoarsayd parcell of land as it 
is bounded, with all the meadowes, pastures, woodes, 
underwood, stones, quarries, brookes, ponds, rivers, 
profitts, comodities and appurtenances whatsoever be- 
longing thereto, unto the sayd Mr. Samuel Willys, 
Capt. John Tallcott, Mr. James Richards and Mr. John 
Allyn, in behalfe of themselves and the rest of the 
inhabitants of the towne of Hartford, whoe are stated 
proprietors in the undivided lands, their heires and 
assignes, to the onely proper use and behoofe of the 
sayd Mr. Samuel Willys, Capt. John Tallcott, Mr. John 
Allyn and Air. James Richards as afoarsayd, their 



246 Wadsworih 

heires and assignes forever; and the sayd Massecup 
and Wm squa in behalfe of themselves and Wawarme 
the sister of Sunckquasson and Seacutt, Keepequam, 
Jack Spiner, Currecombe, Wehassatuck squa, and 
Secunck squa, doe covenant to and with the sayd Mr. 
Samuel Willys, Mr. John Talcott, Mr. James Richards 
and Mr. John Allyn, that after and next unto the afoar- 
sayd Sunckquasson, they the said Masseeckcup, Wm 
squa, Seacutt, Keepequam, &c., have onely full power, 
good right, and lawfull authority to grant, bargain, sell 
and convey all and singular the before hereby granted 
or mentioned to be granted premises with their and 
every of their appurtenances, unto the sayd Mr. Sam- 
uel Willys, Mr. John Talcott, Mr. John Allyn, and Mr. 
James Richards as aforesayd, their heires and assignes 
forever and that they the sayd Mr. Samuel Willys, Mr. 
John Talcott, Mr. John Allyn and Mr. James Richards 
and the rest of the proprietors of the undivided lands 
within the bounds of the township of Hartford, their 
heires and assignes, shall and may by force and vertue 
of these presents, from time to time and all times for- 
ever hereafter, lawfully have, receive and take the 
rents issues and profitts thereof to their owne proper 
use and behoofe forever, without any lett, suit, trouble 
or disturbance whatsoever of the heires of Sunck- 
quasson or of us the sayd Massecup, Wm squa, Sea- 
cutt, Keepequam, Jack Spiner, Currecombe, Wehassa- 
tuck squa, and Seacunck squa, our heires or assignes, 
or of any other person or persons whatsoever clayming 
by, from or under us or any of us of by our meanes, 
act, consent, priority or procurement, and that free and 
clear and freely and clearly acquitted exonerated and 
discharged or otherwise from time to time, well and 
sufficiently saved and kep harmless by the sayd Mas- 



The Patent, Charter and Deed 247 



secup, William-squa, Seacutt and Keepequam, &c., 
their heires, executors and administrators from all for- 
mer and other grants, guifts, bargains, sales, titles, 
troubles, demands, and incumbrances whatsoever had, 
made, committed, sufifered or done by the afoarsayd 
Massecup, William squa, Keepequam, Seacutt, &c. 

"In witness whereof, they have signed, sealed and 
delivered this writeing with their own hands, this 
fifth of July, one thousand six hundred and seventy. 
Signed sealed and delivered 
in presence of 
Arramatt, his mark, Masseeckcup, his mark, L. S. 
Mamanto, his mark, Seacutt, his mark, L. S. 

Jack Spiner, his mark, L. S. 

Seacunck, his mark, L. S. 

Currecombe, his mark, L. S. 
Keepequam, his mark, L. S. 

William squa's mark, L. S. 

Wehassatuck squa's mark, L. S. 
Nescanett gives consent to this 
grant and bargain, as he wit- 
nesseth by subscribing 
Nesacanett, his mark, L. S. 



Neschegen, his mark, 
Attumtoha, his mark, 
Wennoe, his mark. 
Will. Wadsworth, 
John Adams, 
John Strickland, 
Giles Hamlin. 



HIDING THE CHARTER 



HIDING THE CHARTER 



In the twenty-four years that elapsed between 
the arrival of the Charter and Gov, Andros' visit 
to Hartford, the Connecticut colony became the 
granary of New England. It exported so much 
grain that Sir Edmund, in the winter of 1675-6 
sent Captain Salisbury to England to advi&e the 
Duke of York that it was impossible for the gov- 
ernment of New York to subsist without the ad- 
dition of that colony. 

The wheat, corn, peas and beans grown in the 
valleys of Connecticut, were carried in vessels to 
Boston, New York, the West Indies and Eng- 
land, the merchants and others who shipped it 
bringing back products which made colonial life 
more comfortable, while the material comforts of 
the inhabitants were not forgotten, tobacco,^ 

* At the General Court which was held in Hartford, 
June II, 1640, it was ordered "that what person or per- 
sons within this jurisdiction shall, after September, 
1641, drinke any other Tobacco but such as is or shalbe 
planted within these libertyes, shall forfeit for every 
pownd so spent fiue shillings, except they haue license 
fro the Courte." This order was repealed January 28, 
1646-7, and the following adopted at the General Court 
May 20, 1647: "Forasmuch as it is obsearued that 
many adbuses are committed by frequent takeing To- 
bacco, It is Ordered, that noe person vnder the age of 
20 years, nor any other that hath not allreddy accus- 



252 



Wadsworth 



wine, and strong waters^ being brought in large 

quantities and consumed so freely that the Gen- 

tomed himselfe to the vse therof, shall take any To- 
bacco vntil he haue brought a Certificat, vnder the 
hand of some who are approued for knowledg and 
skill in phisicke, that it is vsefull for him, and also 
that he hath receaued a lycencc fro the Court for the 
same. And for the regulateing those who either by 
their former takeing yt haue to their owne apprehen- 
sions made yt necessary to them, or vppon due aduice' 
are persuaded to the vse thereof. It is Ordered, that 
no man within this Colony, after the publication hereof, 
shall take any tobacco publicquelv in the street, nor 
shall take yt in the fyelds or woods, vnlesse when they 
be on their trauill or joyrny at lest lo myles, or at the 
ordinary tyme of repast comonly called dynner, or if it I 
be not then taken, yet not aboue once in the day atj 
most, and then not in company with any other. Norj 
shall any inhabiting in any of the Townes within this] 
Jurisdiction, take any Tobacco in any howse in the same ^ 
Towne wher he liueth, with and in the company ofj 
any more then one who vseth and drinketh the sarne I 
weed, with him at that tyme; vnder the penulty of six! 
pence for ech oflfence against this Order, in any of the! 
particulers thereof, to be payd without gainsaying,^ 
vppon conuiction by the testimony of one witnesse that] 
is without just exception, before any one Magistrate; 
and the Constables in the seuerall Townes are required] 
to make presentment to ech particuler Court of such asj 
they doe vnderstand and can evict to be transgressors; 
of the Order." This order appears under the head.' 
"Tobacko" in the Code of 1650. 

* The following order in reference to the excessivej 
use of same was adopted May 20, 1647: "And for the! 
preuenting that great abuse which is creeping in by] 
excesse in Wyne and strong waters. It is Ordered, that! 
noe inhabitant in any Towne of this Jurisdiction shalll 
continue in any comon victualing howse in the samej 
Towne wher he liueth aboue halfe an hower att a tymej 
in drinkeing wyne, bear or hotte waters, nether shalll 
any who draweth & selleth wyne suffer any to drynkej 



Hiding the Charter 253 

eral Court was time and again called upon to 
pass laws against the indiscriminate sale and use 
of them. 

During this period I received my share of at- 
tention from the horn book at school and the 
stick of the tithing man^ at meeting, a turbulent 
and an impulsive nature making me a leader of 
the lads in the misdemeanors of the town. As 
soon as I was old enough I became a member of 
the train band, of which I was subsequently 

any more wyne att on tyme then after the proportion 
of three to a pynt of sacke. And it is further Ordered, 
that noe such wyne drawer deliuer any wyne, or suffer 
any to be deliuered out of his howse to any who com 
for yt, vnlesse they bring a noate vnder the hand of 
some one Mister of some family and alowed inhabitant 
of that Towne, nether shall any such Ordinary keep, 
sell or drawe any hotte waters to any but in case of 
necessity, and in such moderation for quantity as they 
may haue good grownds to conceaue yt may not be 
abused; and shalbe reddy to giue an accoumpte of 
their doeings herein when they are cauled thereto, 
vnder Censure of the Court in a case of delinquency." 
'A parish officer elected annually to preserve order 
in meeting during divine service. He was provided 
with a staff which had a rabbit's foot at one end and a 
piece of iron on the other, the former being used to 
rouse sleepy ladies, and the latter to keep the boys in 
order or out of the land of nod. A writer in Hartford 
in History also says that the tithing man was required 
to "look after young people illegally walking together 
on the Sabbath, after strangers at inns, after travelers, 
after such as 'lye at home' or 'linger without doors at 
meeting time,' and after 'all sons of Belial strutting 
about, setting on fences and otherwise desecrating the 
day.' " 



254 Wadsworfh 

Sergeant, Lieutenant, and afterwards Captain.^ 
Also when I arrived at the proper age I was made 
a freeman^ of the colony and afterwards a 
Deputy^ to the General Court, my first service in 
the latter being prior to the trouble over the 
Charter. 

Time and again it has been said that war at- 
tracts the attention of the aggressive and I cer- 
tainly must be numbered among them, for as soon 
as King Philip began the war which laid waste to 
a greater part of Massachusetts and Rhode Island 
I was ready to march out and meet him. For- 
tunately Connecticut was not called upon to make 
any sacrifices in this troublous time, as aside 
from the burning of Simsbury there was no prop- 
erty lost in the colony and I always believed that 
it would not have happened if the people had re- 
mained in their homes instead of rushing oflf to 
Windsor, after burying the most of their property 
in the swamp and losing it, as no one has found 

* Joseph Wadsworth is referred to as Sargeant in 
order of Council dated Sept. 6, 1675. He was appointed 
Lieutenant January 14, 1675, and Captain by order of 
the General Assembly October 14, 1697, although he 
appears as Captain in the list of Deputies elected May 
9, 1695. 

* Propounded for freeman May 11. 1676, was admitted 
at session of General Court October 12, 1676. 

* He was a Deputy from Hartford in 1685, 1694, 1695, 
1699, 1703, 1704 and 1705. 



Hiding the Charter 2bb 

the place of sepulture to this day. Major Treat, 
afterwards Governor of the colony, was in com- 
mand of the Connecticut troops from the begin- 
ning of the war until after the burning of the 
Narragansett Fort. He relieved Hadley and 
would have saved Springfield, when a portion of 
it was burned by the Indians, had he not been de- 
layed in getting boats to cross the river. 

After the Commissioners of the United Col- 
onies decided upon a winter campaign and to at- 
tack the Indians at their headquarters in the 
Narragansett country it was resolved to raise an 
army of one thousand men. Of that portion Con- 
necticut supplied three hundred Englishmen and 
one hundred and fifty Mohegan and Pequot In- 
dians, the latter being attached to the companies 
commanded by Captain John Gallup of Stoning- 
ton and Captain John Mason of Norwich. The 
other three companies of the Connecticut division 
were commanded by Samuel Marshall of Wind- 
sor, Thomas Watts of Hartford and Nathaniel 
Seely of Stratford. Gershom Bulkeley was sur- 
geon. Reverend Nicholas Boyes chaplain and 
Stephen Barret commissary. 

This corps, under the command of Major Treat, 
marched from Stonington to Pettyquamscott, 
where it arrived on December 17 and found the 
buildings in which they expected to find shelter 



256 



Wadsworth 



had been burned a day or two before by the In- 
dians. The next day they joined the Massachu- 
setts and Plymouth forces and after remaining 
over night in an open field continued the march 
towards the Narragansett fort, which was 
reached about noon Sunday, December 19. 

The fort^ was on an island of five or six acres 
in the midst of a cedar swamp which was under 
water except in the driest part of the year. It 
was impassable except to the Indians by their 
accustomed paths, but was now easily approached 
as the severe cold had turned the waters of the 
swamp into a mass of ice. The fort was sur- 
rounded by a palisade and a hedge of almost a 
rod in thickness. The former, however, was not 
all completed at the time of the attack and the 
English were fortunate in coming upon the place. 
It was at a corner and while there was a block- 
house opposite the gap and flankers at both sides 
of it, there was nothing across it except a long 
tree about five feet from the ground. Captains 
Johnson and Davenport rushed into this opening 
with the Massachusetts troops. Johnson fell at 

'The scene of the battle was in West Kingston, 
Rhode Island, on the estate of J. G. Clark, whose res- 
idence is about a mile from where the fort was located. 
The island was cleared and ploughed about 177S, while 
the swampy land is still overflowed except in the driest 
part of the season. 



Hiding the Charter 257 

the log and Davenport within the fort. With 
their leaders gone the troops fell on their faces to 
escape the galling fire of musketry and retreated 
as soon as it abated. Captains Moseley and Gar- 
diner pressed up to take their places, but had to 
fall back. They were succeeded by Major Apple- 
ton and Captain Oliver, who drove the enemy out 
of one of the flankers. 

Holding the Plymouth forces in reserve. Gen- 
eral Josiah Winslow rushed forward the Connec- 
ticut troops which were in the rear of the army. 
Not being aware of the extent of the danger from 
the blockhouse, Captain Marshall's company suf- 
fered terribly as it entered the line of fire. 
Marshall fell at the tree. As he dropped Major 
Treat assumed command of the company and 
beckoning for the men to follow him rushed into 
the fort. With a yell that could be heard above 
the cries of the Indians and the roar of the mus- 
kets, Gallup and Seely followed him. Both of them 
were shot down, while Captain Mason received 
a wound from which he died nine months later. 

As the Connecticut troops forced back the 
enemy the Massachusetts forces joined them. 
Step by step they drove the Indians out of the 
blockhouses into the wigwams. After three hours' 
fighting the order to destroy the place by fire 



258 Wadsworth 

came, and as in the Pequot fight, the scene of 
carnage became a fearful holocaust. 

Major Treat was in the thick of the fight from 
the beginning and in one of the skirmishes re- 
ceived a ball through the rim of his hat. He 
was the last man who left the fort in the dusk of 
the evening, commanding the rear of the army. 
Of his five captains three were killed and one 
wounded, while of the three hundred Englishmen 
seventy were killed or wounded ; twenty in Cap- 
tain Seely's, ten in Captain Gallup's, seventeen in 
Captain Watt's, nine in Captain Mason's and four- 
teen in Captain Marshall's company. Of these 
about forty were killed or died of their wounds. 
About half of the loss in action fell upon Connec- 
ticut and they, as well as those who survived 
them, richly deserved the following tribute which 
was subsequently made by the legislature of the 
colony : 

"In that signal service, the fort fight, in Narragan- 
sett, as we had our full number, in proportion with the 
other confederates, so all say they did their full propor- 
tion of service. Three noble soldiers, Seely, courageous 
Marshall, and bold Gallup, died in the bed of honour; 
and valiant Mason, a fourth captain, had his death's 
wound. There died many brave officers, and sentinels, 
whose memory is blessed; and whose death redeemed 
our lives. The bitter cold, the tarled swamp, the 
tedious march, the strong fort, the numerous and stub- 
born enemy they contended with, for their God, king 





<j l/i/tUi^S 







J(^f^i ^TaLih 



CONNECTICUT GOVERNORS 



Hiding the Charter 261 

and country, be their trophies over death. He that 
commanded our forces then, and now us, made no less 
than seventeen fair shots at the enemy, and was thereby 
as oft a fair mark for them. Our mourners, over all 
the colony, witness for our men, that they were not un- 
faithful in that day." 

On April 5, 1676, John Winthrop, the Governor 
of Connecticut, died in Boston while attending a 
meeting of the Commissioners of the United Col- 
onies. At the election on May 11 he was suc- 
ceeded by William Leete, while Major Robert 
Treat^ was chosen Deputy-Governor and Major 
John Talcott appointed to command the troops 
during the balance of the war, which dragged 
along until King Philip was killed in the swamp 
near Mount Hope on August 12. When Major 
Talcott was made chief in command, the Reverend 
Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield was appointed 
surgeon. The latter was the son of Peter Bulke- 
ley, the first minister of Concord, Mass., and 
Grace, the daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood. 
He was born December 26, 1635, a few weeks 
after their arrival in America. It is stated that 
his mother apparently died on the passage to 

' Robert Treat was born in England in 1622 and came 
to America with his father. In 1641 he located at Mil- 
ford and moved from there to New Jersey when the 
Connecticut and New Haven colonies were united. He 
was one of the founders of Newark and remained there 
until 1672, when he returned to Milford. 



262 Wadsworth 

this country and as her husband supposed land 
was near he prevailed upon the captain, notwith- 
standing the superstitious fears of the sailors, to 
keep the body three days beyond the time ap- 
pointed for consigning it to the deep. A chest^ 
containing a portion of their earthly possessions 
was emptied and the body placed in it. On the 
third day symptoms of vitality were discovered 
and before the vessel reached land animation was 
restored, and although carried from the vessel an 
invalid, Mrs. Bulkeley survived her husband and 
followed her son, Gershom, to New London, 
where after graduating at Harvard in divinity 
and medicine in 1659 he was installed as a minis- 
ter. In 1666 he removed to Wethersfield to 
preach to a portion of the congregation over 
which John Russell presided before he accom- 
panied the "withdrawers" to Hadley. When the 
King Philip war broke out Gershom Bulkeley ac- 
companied Captain Thomas Bull to Saybrook and 
was present when Edmund Andros made an ef- 
fort to take possession of the fort. 

^ This chest is now owned by Ex-Governor Morgan 
Gardner Bulkeley, the most prominent representative 
of the family since his distinguished ancestor, Gershom 
Bulkeley, brought the name to Connecticut in 1659. By 
a strange coincidence both of them were born on the 
same date, providing allowance is not made for the 
eleven days change in calendar, Gershom Bulkeley as 
stated in the text being born December 26, 1635, and 
Morgan Gardner Bulkeley December 26, 1838. 



Hiding the Charter 263 

As the latter played a very important part in 
the history of New England from the time of the 
King Philip war until after James II. was driven 
from the throne of England, a few words in refer- 
ence to him would scarcely be out of place. Sir 
Edmund Andros, Lord Seignoire of Saufmarez in 
the Island of Guernsey, was born in London De- 
cember 6, 1637. His ancestors were originally 
from Northamptonshire, where they were known 
as Andrews or Andros, and became connected 
with the Island of Guernsey in 1543, when one of 
them, acting as lieutenant to Sir Peter Meautis, 
the Governor, married Judith D'Saufmarez, the 
heiress who brought the fief of Saufmarez into 
the family. Amice Andros, the father of Ed- 
mund Andros, married Elizabeth Stone, sister of 
Major Stone, cupbearer to the Queen of Bohemia 
and Captain of a troop of horse in Holland. He 
was master of ceremonies to Charles I. at the 
time of the birth of his son, who was brought up 
in the royal family and during its exile com- 
menced his career as a soldier in Holland under 
Prince Henry of Nassau. After the Restoration, 
Edmund Andros was appointed Gentleman in 
Ordinary to the King's aunt, the Queen of Bo- 
hemia, whose daughter, Princess Sophia, be- 
came the mother of George I. of England. 



264 Wadsworfh 

Edmund Andros distinguished himself in the 
Dutch war which ended in 1667, but was not 
heard from again until 1672, when he appears as 
the commander of the forces in Barbadoes and 
during which he acquired a knowledge of Ameri- 
can affairs. Under royal warrant of the Master 
General of Ordnance, on April 2 of that year, a 
regiment of dragoons raised for the King's 
cousin, Prince Rupert, was directed to be armed 
"with the bayonet or great knife," this being its 
first introduction into the English army. An- 
dros was promoted to this regiment, and the four 
companies then under his command in Barbadoes 
advanced to be a troop of horse in it. 

In 1674 upon the death of his father he suc- 
ceeded to the office of Bailiff of Guernsey, the 
reversion to which had been granted to him by 
King Charles during his father's lifetime. The 
same year, the war which had been re-commenced 
with the Dutch having terminated, Andros' regi- 
ment was disbanded and he was commissioned by 
the King to receive New York and its depend- 
encies pursuant to the treaty of peace, which was 
signed at Westminister February 9, 1674. On 
June 29 of the same year the Duke of York, to 
remove all grounds of controversy respecting the 
title of his American claim, obtained a new patent 
from the King confirming his former grant of 



Hidins the Charter 265 



*d 



1664. Two days later he appointed Major Andres 
his lieutenant and governor in America and over 
all the territory embraced in the patent. Andros 
arrived in New York on November i, 1674, and 
ten days later received a formal surrender of the 
province of New Netherlands from Governor 
Clove. 

As soon as he was settled in New York, Gov- 
ernor Andros sent the Governor and General 
Court of Connecticut a copy of the Duke of 
York's patent, and the following spring made a 
demand for the territory included in same lying 
within the jurisdiction of Connecticut, "as the 
Duke's patent included all of the land from the 
west side of the Connecticut river to the east side 
of the Delaware Bay." As a portion of the land 
was in 1662 included in the Connecticut Charter 
and the boundary between the two colonies fixed 
by a former governor of the Duke of York, the 
General Court of Connecticut advised Governor 
Andros that it did not have a plantation, town, 
village, house or place in its possession which was 
not within the limits granted by His Majesty and 
approved b)'" his royal letters. On July 8, after the 
beginning of the King Philip war, Edmund An- 
dros appeared at Saybrook with two sloops, 
ostensibly to protect the inhabitants against the 



266 Wadsworth 

Indians, but really to get control of the part of 
the colony claimed by the Duke of York. 

On the day prior to Andros' arrival, Captain 
Thomas Bull was sent to Saybrook with two 
companies of soldiers. His instructions were so 
framed that while they had ostensible reference 
to the protection of the place against Indians, 
he was authorized to repel aggression from any 
quarter and to maintain the possession of the fort 
if necessary by force of arms. Upon his arrival 
Governor Andros sent Captain Nichols, with two 
or three gentlemen, on shore with a flag in the 
bow of the boat and instructions to advise the 
parties that he was there to give assistance 
against the Indians if necessary. The occupants 
of the fort and the inhabitants of Saybrook, how- 
ever, were well aware of his object, and lost no 
time in advising the General Court at Hartford. 
They were also prepared to meet the Governor 
and his gentlemen when they came ashore on the 
morning of July 12 and desired to speak with the 
ministers and chief officers of the place. Failing 
in this Andros ordered that the Duke of 
York's charter and his commission be read. This 
was done, Captain Bull and the men who were 
with him withdrawing, declaring that they had 
nothing to do with it. 

As soon as the reading was completed Captain 



Hiding the Charter 267 

Bull presented, and had read, a protest from the 
General Court in which it tendered "him a treaty 
by meete persons deputed to that purpose in any 
place of this Colony where he should choose," 
while Captain Bull informed him that his instruc- 
tions were to keep the King's colors standing- un- 
der his majesty, the lieutenant governor of Con- 
necticut, and if any other colors were set up they 
would be struck down. Governor Andros, 
pleased with the Captain's bold and soldier-like 
appearance said, "What is your name?" He re- 
plied, "My name is Bull, sir." "Bull!" said the 
Governor, "It is a pity that your horns are not 
tipped with silver." Finding that he could make 
no impression upon the officers or people, and 
that Connecticut was determined to maintain its 
chartered rights, Andros gave up his design of 
seizing the fort and returned to his vessels, being 
guarded to the water side by town soldiers. Dur- 
ing this trying period Captain Bull displayed in 
military affairs the courage which had already 
distinguished him in private life, and especially in 
winning a wife.^ 

* The allusion in the text refers to a matter passed 
upon at the County Court, holden at Hartford, March 
4, 1669, before John Winthrop, Governor, Captain John 
Talcott, Leftenant John Allyn, Mr. Henry Wolcott, and 
Mr. Anthony Hawkins, Assistants. The following ap- 
pears in the record: 

Benjamin Waite having publiquely protested against 



268 Wadsworth 

Gershom Bulkeley was also present at Saybrook 
when Governor Andros made his visit. Two of 
the letters sent to the General Court were written 
by him and while it approved of all that was 
done, Deputy Governor Leete was of the opinion 
that when Andros came ashore and commanded 
the Duke's charter and commission read, they 
should have interrupted "by shouts or the sound 

Thomas Bull, Jun., and Esther Cowles, their proceed- 
ings in referrence to marriage and manifested his de- 
sires that authority would not marry, or any ways 
contract in order to marriage, them the said Thomas 
and Esther, — the Court desired the said Waite, that he 
would manifest his reasons to them and produce his 
proofes of any right or clayme that he hath to the said 
Esther Cowles. but he refused to attend to any such 
thing at this time; the Court did therefore declare to 
the said Benjamin Waite, that they did not judge it 
reasonable to restrain Thomas Bull and Esther Cowles 
from marriage 'till the next term of this Court in Sep- 
tember next; and therefore, if the said Waite doth not 
make good his clayme and prosecute it to effect be- 
tween this and the 7th day of April next, (to which 
day this Court will adjourn) they will no longer deny 
them the said Thomas and Esther marriage. 

Esther Cowles, the lady in question, was the daughter 
of John Cowles, of Hatfield, Massachusetts, one of the 
first settlers of that town, and the ancestor of all who 
bear that name now dwelling in Farmington, Con- 
necticut. Hannah Cowles and Sarah Cowles. daughters 
of John Cowles, married inhabitants of Hartford, the 
former Caleb Stanley, and the latter Nathaniel Good- 
win. It may also be added in order to complete the 
note that Benjamin Waite failed to produce to this ad- 
journed Court "proofes" to his "clayme" to Miss Esther 
Cowles, and she soon afterwards became Mrs. Thomas 
Bull. 



Hiding the Charter 269 

of a drum, &c., without violence," as I was in- 
structed when in the fall of 1693 Benjamin 
Fletcher, another governor of New York, came 
to Connecticut to take command of the militia,^ 
and met with no better success than his predeces- 
sor. 

While the references to Major Treat, Sir Ed- 
mund Andros and Gershom Bulkeley, may ap- 
pear out of place in this narrative, they have been 
introduced in order to give an idea of three men 

* The following reference to the above incident ap- 
pears in Trumbull's History of Connecticut: "The 
trainbands of Hartford assembled, and, as the tradition 
is, while captain Wadsworth, the senior oflficer, was 
walking in front of the companies, and exercising the 
soldiers, colonel Fletcher ordered his commission and 
instructions to be read. Captain Wadsworth instantly 
commanded, "Beat the drums;" and there was such a 
roaring of them that nothing else could be heard. 
Cclonel Fletcher commanded silence. But no sooner 
had Bayard made an attempt to read again than Wads- 
worth commands, "Drum, drum, I say." The drummers 
understood their business, and instantly beat up with 
all the art and life of which they were masters. 
"Silence, silence," says the Colonel. No sooner was 
there a pause, than Wadsworth speaks with great ear- 
nestness. "Drum, drum, I say," and turning to his ex- 
cellency, said, "If I am interrupted again I will make the 
sun shine through you in a moment." He spoke with 
such energy in his voice and meaning in his counte- 
nance, that no further attempts were made to read or 
enlist men. Such numbers of people collected together, 
and their spirits appeared so high, that the Governor 
and his suit judged it expedient, soon to leave the town 
and return to New York." This story is contradicted in 
a pamphlet published in 1694 by order of the Governor 
and Assistants. 



270 Wadsworth 

who played important parts in the interruption of 
the Charter government of Connecticut and the 
resumption of same when it was known that 
James II. was dethroned. By yieldin.s^ to au- 
thority that could have been resisted only by 
force, which would have been considered revolu- 
tionary and treasonable, Governor Treat saved 
the lives of many colonists, as well as their prop- 
erty from confiscation ; while by taking into 
his hands the government of Connecticut "for 
reasons of state," Sir Edmund Andros made an 
explanation as to the misinterpretation of the co- 
lonial letter at Whitehall unnecessary, and which 
if explained would have led to a judgment 
against the Charter. The inquiries under quo 
warranto were pursued no further, and while Ger- 
shom Bulkeley, the third member of the group, 
considered the resumption of the government un- 
lawful' on account of his belief that the Charter 
was voluntarily surrendered, his arguments failed 
to impress those in authority in England, al- 
though it was not until after Bulkeley had 
retired from public affairs that General Fitz John 
Winthrop succeeded in obtaining from King 
William and Queen Mary a letter dated June 21, 

^ See his "People's Right of Election," published in 
Vol. I,, and "Will and Doom," in Vol. III., of Collec- 
tions of Connecticut Historical Society. 



Hiding the Charter 271 

1694, addressed to the Governor and Magistrates 
of Connecticut, explaining and restricting Fletch- 
er's commission already referred to, and which 
contained the following encouraging sentence: 
"And the said Major General Fitz John Win- 
throp, will upon his arrival, inform you of our 
gracious intention to continue our royal protec- 
tion to you and all our subjects of that, our 
Colony, and particularly in what may relate to 
the preservation of the peace, welfare and se- 
curity of the same, and maintaining your just 
rights and privileges." 

Firm in his faith in the colony, Gershom Bulk- 
eley expected unqualified obedience to authority 
and ever looked with distrust upon the growing 
feeling that the colonies, which were by their 
location deprived of a voice in the councils of 
England, should not be required to yield allegi- 
ance to the crown. He served as a surgeon 
throughout the King Philip war, was in the Nar- 
ragansett fort fight with Major Treat, and in 
the campaign of 1676 was wounded^ by a shot 
from the enemy in a sudden assault made by a 
party of Indians. Upon the close of the war he 
asked to be dismissed from the church at Weth- 
ersfield. After it was granted he moved across 

* See Hubbard's Narrative of the Indian Wars, pub- 
lished in Boston March 29, 1677. 



272 Wadsworth 

the river to Glastonbury, commenced to prac- 
tice medicine and continued it for over thirty 
years. Two of his daughters married into the 
Treat family, of which the Governor was the 
most prominent member, and for whom Ger- 
shom Bulkeley always had an unbounded ad- 
miration, although they differed in the matter 
of public policy, as is shown by his "Peo- 
ples Right of Election" which was addressed to 
him. At the time that this was written, Gershom 
Bulkeley was a justice of the peace, having been 
appointed by Governor Andros. Time, however, 
closed the breach and long before his death in 
1713 those who followed him to his grave looked 
upon Gershom Bulkeley, not as an uncom- 
promising royalist, but as a man of great learn- 
ing and extraordinary ability, and who by his 
exemplary life proved himself a man who never 
hesitated to express an opinion or live up to his 
ideals. 

At the time of his death, Gershom Bulkeley 
was on a visit to his daughter Dorothy, wife of 
Thomas Treat, a grandson of Richard Treat, one 
of the first settlers of Wethersfield, and to whose 
son Richard he left his books^ and manuscripts 
upon medicine and chemistry. Of his sons, 

' A number of his books, as well as a few of his man- 
uscripts, are in the library of Trinity College, Hartford. 



Hiding the Charter 273 

Charles was licensed as a physician, Peter was 
lost at sea, Edward married Dorothy Talcott, 
and John^ the youngest, after graduating at Har- 
vard in 1699, settled at Colchester, being the first 
minister of that town. 

Sir Edmund Andros was Governor of New 
York from 1674 until January 11, 1680-1, when 
he was recalled by the Duke of York to answer 

^The following humorous story is told of the latter: 
"The Rev. Mr. Bulkeley. of Colchester, was famous in 
his day as a casuist and sage counsellor. A church in 
his neighborhood had fallen into unhappy divisions and 
contentions, which they were unable to adjust among 
themselves. They sent one of their number to John 
Bulkeley for his advice with a request that he would 
send it in writing. It so happened that Mr. Bulkeley 
had a farm in the town, upon which he entrusted a 
tenant who was also seeking advice of a different char- 
acter. In addressing the two letters, the one for the 
church was directed to the tenant, and the one for the 
tenant to the church. The church members convened 
to hear the advice which was to settle their disputes. 
The moderator read as follows: 'You will see to the 
repair of the fences, that they be built high and strong, 
and you will take special care of the old black bull.' 
This mystical advice puzzled the church at first, but an 
interpreter among the more discerning ones was soon 
found, who said, 'Brethren, this is the very advice we 
most need; the direction to repair the fences is to ad- 
monish us to take good heed in the admission and gov- 
ernment of our members. We must guard the church 
by our master's laws, and keep out strange cattle from 
the fold. And we must in a particular manner set a 
watchful guard over the devil, the old black bull, who 
has done so much hurt of late.' All perceived the 
wisdom and fitness of Mr. Bulkeley's advice, and re- 
solved to be governed by it. The consequence was, all 
the animosities subsided, and harmony was restored." 



274 Wadsworth 

charges of mis-government and embezzlement 
which were preferred against him. During the 
winter of 1677-8 he was also in England on a 
visit and was knighted by Charles II. The 
charges referred to were not serious enough to 
forfeit the favor of his patron, as in 1682 Andros 
was named as a gentleman of the King's privy 
chamber. The following year the Island of Al- 
derney was granted to him and Lady Mary An- 
dros for ninety-nine years, and in 1685 he was 
made a colonel in Her Royal Highness Princess 
Anne of Denmark's regiment of horse, while he 
also commanded a troop of horse against the 
Duke of Monmouth in the rebellion which ter- 
minated at Sedgemore, July 18, 1685. 

On June 3, 1686, James II. commissioned Sir 
Edmund Andros as "Captain General and Gov- 
ernor in Chief in and over the Colonies of Massa- 
chusetts Bay and New Plymouth, the Provinces 
of New Hampshire and Maine, and the Narra- 
gansett country or King's Province." On Sep- 
tember 13 of the same year additional powers 
and instructions to the new Governor were 
issued from James II.'s Court at Windsor. They 
required him to demand the surrender of the 
Charter of Rhode Island and the Providence 
Plantation against which a writ of quo warranto 
had been issued, and also said that "in case it 



Hiding the Charter 277 

shall happen, that upon a like writ of quo war- 
ranto, issued against the Charter of our govern- 
ment and company of our Colony of Connecticut, 
they shall be induced to make surrender of their 
Charter, our will and pleasure is, and we do 
hereby authorize and empower you, in our name, 
to receive such surrender, and to take our said 
Colony of Connecticut under your government, 
in the same manner as before expressed." 

July 15, 1685, Edward Randolph, the collector 
of His Majesty's customs in New England, filed 
with the Lord Commissioners for the Plantations 
the following articles to support a writ of quo 
warranto against the Connecticut Charter: 

"Art. I. That they have made laws contrary to the 
laws of England." 

"Art. 2. They impose fines upon the inhabitants, 
and convert them to their own use." 

"Art. 3. They enforce an oath of fidelity upon the 
inhabitants without administering the oath of suprem- 
acy and allegiance, as in their Charter is directed." 

"Art. 4. They deny to the inhabitants the exercise 
of the religion of the church of England, arbitrarily 
fining those who refuse to come to their congrega- 
tional assemblies." 

"Art. 5. His Majesty's subjects, inhabiting there, 
cannot obtain justice in the courts of that colony." 

"Art. 6. They discourage and exclude from the 
government all gentlemen of known loyalty, and keep 
it in the hands of the independent party in the Colony." 



278 Wadsworth 

Proofs to sustain the first five of the above 
articles were taken out of the Colony Law Book 
printed at Cambridge in 1673. Under these 
charges a quo warranto was in July, 1685, issued 
against the Governor and Company of Connecti- 
cut. Another followed in October of the same 
year. The following is a copy of the latter, to- 
gether with a copy of a letter to the Colony from 
Ri : Normansell, Secondary to the Sheriffs of 
London : 

"Oct. 6, 1685. James the Second, by the grace of 
God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland King, 
Defender of the Faith, &c. To the Sheriffs of Lon- 
don: Peace. We require you to warn the Governor 
and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut 
in New England in America, to appear before us wher- 
ever we shall then be in England, from the Day of 
Easter in fifteen days, to answer by what warrant they 
claim to have and use diverse liberties, privileges and 
franchises within the said Colony, vis: in the Parish 
of St. Michael in Cornhill, London, where they are 
impeached, and there they shall have this writ. Teste: 
George Lord Jeffries at Westminster, the 8th day of 
July in the first year of our reign — by the Judge in 
the first year of James the Second. 

For the King, 
Robert Sawyer Knight, now Astry." 

Attorney General for our lord the King, 
prosecutes this writ upon the quo warranto 
for the same lord and king." 



Hiding the ChaHer 279 

London, Oct. 6th, 1685. 
"Gentlemen. This day was delivered to my hands (as 
I am Secondary to the Sheriffs of London) a writt of 
Quo Warranto, issuing out of the Crown Office of the 
Court of Kings Bench at Westminster, against you the 
Governor and Company of the English Colony of Con- 
necticut, in New England in America, requiring your 
Appearance before His Majesty, whersoever he shall 
then be in England, from the day of Easter in fifteen 
days to answer unto our Lord, the King, by what 
Warrant you Claime to have and use divers Liberties, 
privileges and Franchises within the said Colony, viz: 
in the Parish of St. Michael Cornhill, London, of 
which you are impeacht, and that you may not be 
ignorant of any part of the contents of the said writt, 
I have enclosed sent you a true coppy of the same (in 
his Majesty's name) requiring your appearance to it, 
and acquainting you that in default thereof, you will 
be proceeded Against to the Outlawry, whereby the 
Liberties, privileges and Franchises you Claime and 
now enjoy, will be forfeited to the King, and your 
Charter vacated and Annulled. Of this Gent, please 
to take notice, from your humble servant. 

Ri: Normansell." 

To the Governor and Company of 
the English Colony of Connecticut in 
New England in America." 

Both of the quo warrantos^ were served 
on John Allyn and John Talcott, two of the 

*Two of these quo warrantos, and one notification 
from Richard Normansell, are preserved in Volume I 
of the Original Papers in the Connecticut Department 
of State and copies of all three of the writs and the 



280 Wadsworth 

keepers of the Charter, by Edward Randolph, 
about midnight on July 20, 1686, but they 
were void as the time of their return had elapsed. 
Notwithstanding that fact the Colony wrote 
William Whiting, its agent in England, to pre- 
sent a petition and an appeal to the King request- 
ing the recall of the quo warrantos and the con- 
tinuation of their Charter privileges. 

During the summer and autumn of 1686, 
Joseph Dudley, who was subsequently a member 
of Edmund Andros' Council, and Edward Ran- 
dolph, wrote the Governor and General Court of 
Connecticut, urging them to surrender the Char- 
ter and be annexed to Massachusetts, even going 
so far as to send Major John Pynchon and Cap- 
tain Waite Winthrop to consult with them on 
the subject; while Governor Dongan of New 
York was equally persistent in urging them to 
be annexed to his government. No advances 
were made to either and such was the condition 
of affairs when Sir Edmund Andros landed in 
Boston on December 20. His first council was 
held on December 22, when the following letter 

three notifications are preserved in the letter book of 
the Colony in the same Department. Two of the 
original writs are thus endorsed: "This received of 
Edward Randolph Esq. upon the 20th of July, 1686, 
about 12 or one in the morning — pr us, — John Talcott, 
Asst. John Allyn, Secry." 



Hiding the Charter, 281 

was addressed to Robert Treat, Governor of His 
Majesty's Colony of Connecticut: 

"Boston, 22nd December, 1686. Sir. This is to 
acquaint you that his Majesty havin^: been pleased to 
send me to the Government of New England, of which 
you are a part, I arrived here on the 20th instant, 
where I find all very well disposed for his Majesty's 
service; and his Majesty's Letters Patent to me for 
the said Government being then published were re- 
ceived with suitable Demonstration. 

"I am commanded and authorized by his Majesty, 
at my arrival in these parts, to receive in his name the 
surrender of your Charter (if tendered by you) and to 
take you into my present care and charge as other 
parts of the Government, assuring his Majesty's good 
subjects of his countenance and protection in all things 
relating to his service and their welfare. 

"I have only to add that I shall be ready and glad 
to do my duty accordingly, and therefore desire to 
hear from you as soon as may be, and remain your 
very affectionate friend, E. Andros." 

Edward Randolph also accompanied this let- 
ter with another quo warranto and the following 
letter : 

"Boston, Dec. 23, 1686. Gentlemen. His Majesty 
hath commanded me to serve another writ of quo war- 
ranto upon you — it is returnable the first of next Term. 
You find by a Letter from his excellence Sir Edmund 
Andros herewith sent you, that as yet a door is open 
for you, and tis your own fault if you fail of the enjoy- 
ments and indulgencies which his Majesty hath been 
graciously pleased to grant to the Colonies of New 
Plymouth and Rhode Island now annexed to this 
Government. 



282 WadswoHh 

"By serving of this quo warranto, and you not ap- 
pearing to defend yourselves, judgment will be entered 
against you on your non-appearance, so that it is not 
in your choice how next to dispose of yourselves. You 
have no way to make yourselves happy but by an early 
application to his Excellence, which is all & more than 
you might expect to hear from me, with whom you 
have so often and so unkindly trifled. However I will 
not be disoblidged, but am, Gentlemen, your humble 
servant, Ed. Randolph." 

Randolph expected that Andros' letter and the 
quo warranto which accompanied it would result 
in a surrender, as he wrote Major Pynchon of 
Springfield the following week that he was well 
assured that the physic would operate, although 
he heard that the little quacks in Hartford were 
endeavoring to divert their coming under the 
government of Massachusetts. Instead of sur- 
rendering the Charter as anticipated. Governor 
Treat called a special meeting of the General 
Court at Hartford on January 26, 1686. It de- 
cided to leave the matter to the Governor and 
Council, who upon the same date dispatched the 
following letter to the Earl of Sunderland, Sec- 
retary of State : 

Hartford, 26 Jan., 1686-7. 
"Right Hon. 

The occasion of these lines are to inform your lord- 
ship, that we have formerly sent several addresses to 
be presented to his Majesty; but have no return that 



Hiding the Charter 283 

they, ever came to his Majesty's view. The last year 
two writs of quo-warranto were served upon us by Mr. 
Randolph, which were issued out of the Crown-ofifice 
of the court of King's Bench at Westminster, but 
served upon us after the time of appearance had 
elapsed, as we understand it; But then we prepared an 
address to his Majesty, and appointed Mr. William 
Whiting, a merchant in London, to be our attorney, to 
present our address to his Majesty: And, in case we 
should be called upon to answer before his Majesty, or 
any court or judges, by what authority we hold, possess 
and enjoy divers rights, privileges and franchises, that 
he might on our behalfe make answer thereto. And 
since that, December last past, another quo-warranto 
was served upon us, requiring our appearance before 
eights days of the purification of the blessed virgin 
Mary; which is so sudden, by reason of our remoteness, 
and the sharpness of the winter season, that we cannot 
make such suitable return as we ought: Yet we have 
again requested and empowered Mr. Whiting to appear 
on our behalf, if we must come to answer, so that, by 
reason of our non-appearance or silence, we may not 
be proceeded against to an outlawry, or forfeiture of 
our liberties and privileges. 

May it please your honour, we are his Majesty's 
loyal subjects, and we are heartily desirous that we 
may continue in the same station that we are in, if it 
may consist with his princely wisdom to continue us 
so: But, if his Majesty's royal purpose be otherwise to 
dispose of us, we shall, as in duty bound, submit to his 
royal commands; and, if it be to conjoin us with the 
other colonies and provinces, under Sir Edmund 
Andros, his Majesty's present governor, it will be more 
pleasing than to be joined with any other province. 



284 Wadsworth 

Sir: We pray your honour's pardon for this address, 
which is only occasioned for fear any mishap should 
befal our former letters, requesting your honour to 
acquaint his Majesty, that we are his obedient and loyal 
subjects, and shall so approve ourselves, notwithstand- 
ing any misrepresentation that may be made of us; 
who are &c. Robert Treat, Governor. 

By order of the General Court, 

John Allyn, Secretary." 

At the same time Governor Andros was also 
advised that the Colony declined to give up the 
Charter. He expressed his surprise in a letter to 
Governor Treat that the Colony required any 
other "argument than his Majesty's own words 
to induce compliance," and followed it with an- 
other note in which he said : 

"While you have no more regard to reiterated quo 
warrantos nor gracious opportunities by his Majesty's 
commands to me as signified to you at my arrival, but 
still act with the most obstinate & adverse to his Maj- 
esty's service, you thereby hazard the advantages that 
might be to your Colony and totally your own — which 
others even of this Colony have prevented by a con- 
siderable part of them now in place submitting and 
leaving the refractory — and unless you shall do your 
part without delay, you will not only make me in- 
capable to serve you but occasion the contrary — but do 
hope better of you and the whole Colony by your 
good ensample and loyal acting in your station ere too 
late." 

This communication was carried to Hartford 
by Captain Nicholson and was submitted to the 



Hiding the Charter 285 

General Court at a special meeting held on 
March 30. At the time there was also a differ- 
ence of opinion between some of the leading men 
in the Colon}^ in reference to the contest that was 
being carried on over the Charter. A number 
thought that it would end in a victory for the 
King and that by making a voluntary surrender it 
would be possible to secure better terms. Others 
were of the opinion that if the Court still held out 
the Colony might be divided by the river, the 
Western half being annexed to New York as de- 
sired by Governor Dongan, and the Eastern por- 
tion to Massachusetts. Governor Treat was; 
supposed to be one of those, while John Allyn 
submitted the following communication at this 
meeting: 
"To the Honerd Genii Court. 

Gentm, Vpon the reasons which haue been layd 
before you, with many more that might be giuen, we 
doe declare that we do verily belieue it is for the 
Advantage of this Court Freely; and voluntarily to 
submitt yorselves to his Maties: disspose, and not to 
begin or hold any further Suites in Law with his 
Mats, which in noe wise can be expected will promote 
or profitt or wealfare. 

And for or own parts, we doe declare, and desire you 
would take notice, we are for answering his Matis: 
expectation, by a present submission, and are against 
all further prosecutions or engagements by Law Suites 
in opposition to his Mates: known pleasr: for or sub- 
mission. 30th March 1687. John Talcott, 

John Allyn, 
Samll Talcott." 



286 Wadsworth 

Of the signers of the above communication 
John Allyn and John Talcott were two of the 
keepers of the Charter, and that Andros was ad- 
vised of what was being done is shown by a 
letter which Allyn wrote on the same day to 
Fitz John Winthrop, who although living in New 
London had been appointed as one of the Council 
of New England before Connecticut was annexed. 
In it he said : 

"I have hoped that this time we should have been 
ready to have joined our divisions and to have made 
an entire body, but by our statesmen it is thought not 
convenient yet, and they will not be moved beyond 
their pace; notwithstanding the advantage that offers 
to encourage a present union, they will not be per- 
suaded to it. It looks so like a giving away that which 
is precious to them, which they can rather be passive 
than active in parting with it; and also those difficulties 
that threaten the standing out, as the procuring his 
majesty's displeasure, making the terms the harder, 
and losing the little share we possibly might have in 
the government if cheerfully submitted to, seems of 
little weight with too many. The result of present 
considerations are that we must stand as we are until 
his Majesty farther dispose of us, and all that is gained 
is our gentlemen rather choose to be conjoined to 
Massachusetts than with any other province or colony." 

After Governor Andros' letter was read at the 
special meeting the General Court voted that it 
did not see sufficient reason to vary from the 
answer given in January, while it also ordered 



Hiding the Charter 287 

that the following letter^ be drawn up and 
signed by the Secretary in the name of the Court 
and directed to his Excellency Sir Edmund An- 
dros: 

"The Governor and Council to Gov. Andros. 

Hartford, March 30, 1687. 
Right Honble Sir: 

According as or Governor informed Capt. Niccolson, 
we conveened this day by or sd Governors order, who 
told us that the occasion of our meeting was, your 
Excellency had signified to him, by advice of his Maties 
Councill that you had granted us another opportunity 
of making suitable and dutifull resolves concerning or 
surrender. For yr Eccelencie's and their care of us 
and love to us, we return you or hearty thanks, but 
we humbly request that we may without offence in- 
form your Honor that as matters are circumstanced 
with us we cannot vary from what we informed your 
Excelency in or letters of January 26 past, by reason 
we have by or severall addresses formerly sent to his 
Matie left orselves so fully to be guided and dissposed 
by his princely wisdome, and have not reced any re- 
turn or direction from his matie since, and therefore 
we request that a good neighborhood and an amicable 
correspondence may be continued between your Excel- 
ency and ys Colony till his Maties father pleasure be 

*The following sentence appeared in the original 
draft of this letter but was crossed out before being 
copied and transmitted to Boston: 

"And then when we are commanded by his Matie to 
surrender orselves to your Excelencies government, 
and to be united wth or neighbors in yt government, 
we shall be as loyall and dutifull as any, we hope, and 
as readily submit orselves to your Excelency." 



288 WadswoHh 

made known to us. Which wth or best respects and 
service to your Excelency, is all at present from your 
humble servants, 

ye Govr & Company of his Maties Colony 
of Connecticutt." 

Andros' feelings upon the receipt of this letter 
can be better imagined than described, but noth- 
ing more was heard from him on the subject until 
the day after the meeting of the General Court, 
held in Hartford, June 15, 1687, and which was 
called by the Governor in order to lay before it 
the information that he had received from Wil- 
liam Whiting as to their afifairs in England. 
During this meeting the assistants and deputies 
who in March defeated the recommendations of 
John Allyn, John Talcott and Samuel Talcott 
were very outspoken and insisted that the Char- 
ter should no longer be left in charge of the Sec- 
retary.^ Several members also desired that the 

* So far as can be gleaned from the Colonial Records, 
John Allyn had the charters in his possession as on 
October 9, 1662, the General Court made the follow- 
ing order: "This Court doth order Lt. Jo: Allyn to 
shew Capt. Varlet the Charter granted to this Colony, 
and to inform him that it is desired by the Court that 
the Honorable Lord Stevesant would not in any wise 
incumber or molest his Ma'ties subjects comprehended 
within ye extent of our Pattent by any impositions, 
that thereby more than probable inconveniences may 
be prevented." Captain Varlet (Varleth) was a brother- 
in-law of Governor Stuyvesant and an officer in the 
employ of the Dutch West India Company. 



Hiding the Charter 289 

Charter be brought into the Court Chamber. 
The Secretary accordingly sent for it and as soon 
as the messenger returned the box was opened 
and the parchment, over which there was so 
much contention, was exhibited to the Court. 
The Governor then bade him put it in the box, 
lay it on the table and leave the key in the box.^ 
The box was still on the table when the Court 
adjourned. 

After a number of the assistants and deputies 
had retired from the chamber. Gov. Treat and 
Deputy Governor Bishop held a conference with 
those who insisted upon retaining the Charter 
until a judgment was rendered against it, while 
Andrew Leete,^ as I was afterwards told by my 

'The following paragraph in reference to same ap- 
pears in the record of the meeting: "Sundry of the 
Court desireing that the Patent or Charter might be 
brought into the Court, the Secretary sent for it, and 
informed the Governor and Court that he had the 
Charter, and shewed it to the Court; and the Governor 
bid him put it into the box againe and lay it on the 
table and leave the key in the box, which he did forth- 
with." 

^Andrew Leete possessed a liberal portion of the 
excellencies of his father. He was early appointed 
commissioner or justice of the peace, and had principal 
concern in managing the affairs of Guilford. In 1677 
he was elected an assistant and was annually re-elected 
until his death October 31, 1702. Rev. Thomas Rug- 
gles, minister of Guilford from 1729 to 1770 in his 
History of Guilford says, "It is said and believed that 
Andrew Leet was the principal hand in securing and 
preserving the charter when it was just upon the point 



290 Wadsworth 

brother, asked that the duplicate be sent for, 
which was done. He also insisted that the Char- 
ters should be separated, one remaining in Hart- 
ford and the other taken to New Haven or an 
adjoining town. 

Upon the suggestion of the Governor, the 
Charter, which was always referred to as the 
original, being the one that Avas first received 
from England, was handed to Andrew Leete with 
instructions to take it to Guilford and conceal it 
either in his house or in one of the hiding places 
of the stone house^ built by Henry Whitfield. 

of being taken and that it was in his house that it 
found a safe retreat until better times." Leete appears 
to have been a man of infirm health, most of his life 
subject to fits of epilepsy, which impaired his useful- 
ness. 

'The stone house of Guilford is said to have been 
built in 1639 by Henry Whitfield, and is supposed to be 
the oldest dwelling house now standing in the United 
States. According to tradition, the stone of which the 
house was built, was brought by the Indians on hand 
barrows, across the swamp from Griswold's rocks, and 
an ancient causeway across the swamp is shown as the 
path employed for the purpose. The house consists 
of two stories and an attic. The walls are three feet 
thick. The walls of the front and back of the house 
terminate at the floor of the attic, and the rafters lie 
upon them. The angle of the roof is 60 degrees, mak- 
ing the base and sides equal. At the end of the wing, 
by the chimney, is a recess, which must have been 
intended as a place of concealment. The interior wall 
has the appearance of touching the chimney, like the 
wall at the northwest end. But the removal of a board 
discovers two closets which project beyond the lower 
part of the building. — Smith's History of Guilford. 




WMy 



Hiding the Charter 293 

This was done, I being detailed the same night 
to accompany him, although at the time I did 
not know what he had concealed in the box under 
his cloak. The duplicate Charter was intrusted 
to a Committee composed of Nathaniel Stanley, 
my brother John Wadsworth and Samuel 
Wyllys, one of the original keepers. Nathaniel 
Stanley and my brother took the Charter to Sam- 
uel Wyllys' house. As he was absent in the 
West Indies, they gave it to his wife and re- 
mained until she placed it in the iron chest in 
which the Wyllys family kept its papers. 

The day after the Court adjourned Edward 
Randolph arrived at Hartford with the following 
letter from Governor Andros : 

"Boston, June 13, 1687. By my several letters and 
advice from England I am assured that by this time, 
there M^ould be an issue put to, and judgment entered 
upon the quo warranto against your Charter, and soon 
expect his Majesty's commands accordingly; of which 
I doubt not but you are advised, as many of your 
friends in these parts, who have prevailed with me on 
your Assembly's meeting, to express my inclinations. 
Still not to be wanting for your welfare, if you yet 
give me' opportunity by accepting his Majesty's favor, 
so graciously ofifered you, in a present compliance and 
surrender, and not with vain hopes to delay until 
execution be served upon you, when too late to acquit 
yourselves of your Duty to his Majesty and trust re- 
posed in you by the Colony, which, being of such im- 



294 Wadsworth 

portance, deserves your best considerations and re- 
solves accordingly. 

"This is by Edward Randolph, Esq., to whom you 
may give entire credence in anything relating to this 
matter — from your very affectionate friend, E. 
Andros." 

It was delivered to Secretary Allyn, who sent 

the following reply: 

"Hartford, June i8, 1687. May it please your Excel- 
lency. Your letters by Esq're Randolph and Capt. 
Davis have arrived, and we are sorry they came too 
late to reach our General Court, who adjourned the 
evening before the arrival of those gentlemen, and 
though by what we took notice of their minds, we con- 
clude they would not have altered or varied anything 
from what in their former letters they wrote unto you, 
for at their last session they resolved to continue in 
the station they are in till his Majesty's pleasure be 
made known to them for a change, and they having so 
declared, it is not in our power to vary or alter what 
they have so resolved — therefore according to the cir- 
cumstances we stand under we cannot make a surren- 
der of our Charter at present, but must wait his Maj- 
esty's pleasure for our farther dispose, which shall be 
readily submitted unto by us — we thankfully acknowl- 
edge your Honors favor to us, and care over us, and 
earnestly your candid acceptation of this return, and 
a favorable construction of our intentions therein, who 
are resolved through the help of Almighty God to ap- 
prove ourselves his Majesty's loyal subjects, and your 
Honors most affectionate friends & humble servants, 
the Governor and Council of his Majesty's Colony of 
Connecticut — pr order signed John Allyn, Secy." 



Hiding the Charter 295 

Nothing more was heard from Governor An- 
dres until the following October, but during the 
interval several communications were received 
from the London agent, William Whiting. In 
June he wrote that he had delivered the letter 
addressed to the Earl of Sunderland, but that 
he had been unable to learn as to what action 
had been taken in connection with it, while at 
the same time he advised the Colony that An- 
dros had not made any return of the quo war- 
ranto, but that he was of the opinion that the 
Charter would be surrendered. On June 14 and 
again on August 9, Whiting wrote that there was 
a rule of the Court passed for appearance on the 
last day of the term or judgment would be 
passed against the Connecticut Charter, "but no 
inform.ation being then, nor since, given in against 
the Collony, the case stands as it did ; whether 
any will be put in between this and next terme, 
cannot learne." Afterwards it was discovered 
that Whiting's inability to learn anything came 
about through the construction placed by the 
Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations 
upon a paragraph in the letter to the Earl of 
Sunderland. It made the following report to His 
Majesty: 

"May it please your Majesty, Wee haue considered a 
letter directed to the Right Honble Earle of Sunderland 



296 Wadsworth 

from the Generall Court of your Majesty's Colony of 
Connecticut in New England, wherein they represent 
their desires to continue in the same Station they are 
at present, if it shall so please your Majesty, But that 
if your Majesty shall thinke fit otherwise to dispose 
of them, they do in all duty declare their readiness to 
submit to your Royall commands; Hoping that your 
Majesty may be more inclined to annex them to the 
Government of New England, then to any other, 
Whereupon Wee most humbly offer our opinion, That 
your Majesty be pleased to send your instructions to 
Sir Edmund Andros, forthwith to signify your Maj- 
esty's Good liking and accepetance of their dutiful Sub- 
mission, and to take them under his government." 

His Majesty approved and ordered that the 
Earl of Sunderland, as Secretary of the State, 
cause instructions to be prepared for his signa- 
ture and transmitted to Sir Edmund Andros for 
taking the Colony of Connecticut under his gov- 
ernment. The first advice that Connecticut re- 
ceived of this action came in a letter from Gov. 
Dongan of New York, who on October 4, 1687, 
wrote the General Court, "I lately had a letter 
from Whitehall that tells me Governor Treat and 
Mr. Allyn had writ thither desiring the Colony of 
Connecticut might be added to Boston and Sir 
Edmund Andros." This letter arrived in Hart- 
ford prior to the meeting of the General Court on 
October 13, which after transacting the regular 
business that came before it, ordered that "the 



Hiding the Charter 297 

Governor and Dept. Governor and so many of the 
Assistants as may make seven to be a committee 
or councill in behalfe of the Generall Court in 
the intervals of the Generall Court, to transact 
such publique concerns as shall fall in." While 
to all appearances this was the last meeting un- 
der the Charter, the members after granting the 
deputies their usual salary for attendance sepa- 
rated without making a motion to adjourn. 

Before taking up the letter which preceded 
Sir Edmund Andros' visit to Hartford, I wish 
to state that while the Governor has been looked 
upon in New England and especially in Con- 
necticut as tyrant, I have never had other than 
a friendly feeling for him. Prior to coming to 
New York all of his life was spent in the Court 
and camp. In the former he recognized the 
crown as the symbol of authority which all roy- 
alists were required to respect and, if necessary, 
defend with their lives, while the latter was to 
him, as to all soldiers, the badge of obedience. 
Upon his arrival in Boston, where both the civil 
and military authority were united in his person, 
Sir Edmund expected the respect and obedience 
which he had yielded without question to his 
sovereign and superior officers. When it was 
not forthcoming, and especially during the trou- 



298 Wadsworth 

blesome times when those who dominated his' 
council fleeced the Massachusetts land owners 
whose property was not granted under seal, it 
is not surprising that he lost his temper and told 
the colonists when they brought their complaints 
to him that they were either subjects or rebels 
and that their Indian deeds were of no more 
value than the scratch of a bear's paw.^ 

Above all this, Andros was a soldier, and while 
he knew when to yield to superior force or con- 
stituted authority, he never hesitated, no matter 
how disagreeable the duty, to carry out the orders 
of his superiors. The odium which has been 
cast upon him by New England belongs to the 
Duke of York, whose orders he acted under when 
in New York and whose will was his mandate, 
when as James II., he sent him to Boston in 
1686. 

The idea of uniting all of the New England 

' Connecticut did not have any trouble over land 
titles during the Andros administration, as when it 
became inevitable that the Charter would be annulled 
the undivided lands were split up, each township being 
ordered to take out deeds for their grants under the 
seal of the Colony. In Massachusetts the land was 
granted, but not under seal. When its Charter was an- 
nulled the grants never having been perfected, became 
void and Andros, or rather his council, offered to con- 
firm the titles on payment of a moderate first rent, 
which was considered a burden to men who had held 
the lands for over half a century. 



Hiding the Charter 301 

Colonies did not originate with Andros, but grew 
out of the complaints filed by Randolph, who 
flooded the Committee of Trade and Plantations 
with letters showing that the Colonists did not 
look to the throne as "the wellspring of dignity 
or the fountain of justice, of honor, of office and 
privilege," and that they were constantly ex- 
ceeding the rights granted in their Charters. 
The Massachusetts Charter having been an- 
nulled and Rhode Island willing to surrender its 
letters ro3^al, Andros was selected to represent 
his old patron, and when assuming office he was 
compelled, or possibly he never thought of it, 
to take under his protection Randolph, whose 
spying eyes were constantly noting all of the 
failings of the colonists but never saw any of 
their good qualities or the difficulties with which 
they were forced to contend in the New World. 
Time and again it has been said of Randolph that 
he wandered up and down seeking whom he 
could devour, viewing with jaundiced eyes those 
who would not lend a willing ear to his over- 
bearing inquisitiveness, be blind to his cupidity, 
or respect his petty authority. Upon Randolph, 
the scourge of the Colonies, execrations cannot 
be too loud or deep, and Andros must to a cer- 
tain extent bear his share of it through having 



302 Wadsworth 

been associated with him in the service of the 
power-blind and bigotted prince and King James 
the second and last of that name to sit upon the 
throne of England. 

Randolph's tattling began long before Andros 
arrived in Boston. He was there eleven years 
and during that period crossed the Atlantic eight 
times with complaints, while he drew with his 
own hands the articles under which the quo war- 
ranto proceedings against the Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island and Connecticut Charters were in- 
stituted, and while none of them were carried to 
a judgment, the Massachusetts Charter was an- 
nulled under a writ of scire facias, while Rhode 
Island yielded and Connecticut — well, possibly 
evaded is the proper word — the issue. Knowing 
that his methods made him the target of Colonial 
scorn, Randolph hoped to win favor at White- 
hall, but he never had the courage to gloat over 
his work until after Andros appeared on the 
scene. Then, with a Governor behind him, he 
began to tell in his correspondence of the doings 
of the council and boasted that they were as 
arbitrary as the Grand Turk. 

Andros' career in America does not require 
an apology, even if he was one of "the kind that 



Hiding the Charter 303 

goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."^ He 
conducted his government like a soldier under 
orders, force or an attempt at it taking the place 
of diplomacy, and while charges were preferred 
against him in New York, the outcome did not 
forfeit the respect or support of his employer. 
On the other hand, King James sent him back to 
America with increased powers and at the same 
time bade him make the government self-sus- 
taining. 

This is Sir Edmund Andros as I remember 
him, my opinion of the man and his methods 
being based upon his military training and the 
period in which he lived. He was ambitious. 
What Colonial Governor was not? He was un- 
scrupulous. What soldier is not? He was se- 
vere. So are all in authority if the record is kept 
by those who are governed without their con- 
sent. 

The orders of King James H. and his coun- 
sellors to Sir Edmund Andros to annex the gov- 
ernment of Connecticut to the one over which he 

*The discontents of the people made such impression 
upon him that one morning he told Doctor Hooker 
he thought the good people of Connecticut kept many 
dayes of fasting and prayer on his account. Very 
probable, says the doctor, for we read that this kind 
goeth not out by other means. — Roger Wolcott's Me- 
moir, July I2th, 1759. 



304 Wadsworth 

presided, arrived at Boston on Saturday, October 
17, 1687, Lady Andros coming on the same ship. 
On Friday of the following week at His Majes- 
ty's council in Boston, the Governor read the 
orders received, and it passed a resolution^ that 
his Excellency should go in person and take Con- 
necticut under his government. On the same 
date he also wrote Governor Treat as follows : 
gj. "Boston, Oct. 22d, 1687. 

This is to acquaint you that I have received effectual 
orders and commands from his Matie for Connecticott, 
annexed to this Government, (in a very gratious man- 
ner) with particular regard and favor to yrselfe. And 
resolve to send or be myselfe att Hartford abt the 
end of next weeke,* 'pursuant there unto, to meete you 
and such Gentn as you shall think fitt for his maties 
sd service wch I will not doubt to yr satisfaccon and 
other his Maties loyall subjects to yr parts; and re- 
main, Sr, Yor very affectionate Friend, 

E. Andros." 

^ The following is a copy of the order: "Advised 
and Resolved. That his Excellencye doe goe in person 
or send about the latter end of the next weeke to take 
the said place under his Government, pursuant to the 
said Orders with such of the Councill or other per- 
sons Guards, and attendance as he shall think fitt; of 
which to give notice to Governour Treat and Secretary 
Allen." 

^ His Excellency, with sundry of the Council, Justices, 
and other Gentlemen, four Blew-Coats, two trumpeters 
(Sam. Bligh one), 15 or 20 Red-Coats, with small 
Guns, and short Lances in the tops of them — set forth 
for Woodcock's (Woodcock's tavern, in what is now 
Attleborough, Mass.), in order to goe to Connecticut, 
to assume the Government of that place. — Judge 
Sewall's Diary, October 26, 1687. 



Hiding the Charter 305 

Upon receipt of this notice the Governor sum- 
moned the General Court to meet at Hartford, 
while those in command of the train bands and 
the troop of horse were instructed to be in readi- 
ness to receive Sir Edmund Andros in a manner 
commensurate with his office. The assistants, 
deputies and troops were all assembled in Hart- 
ford by Friday of the following week, while men 
were posted away towards Springfield so as to be 
in readiness to advise those in waiting of the 
Governor's approach. 

Nothing was heard of him on that date or on 
Saturday, the first advice coming from Wethers- 
field in the middle of the afternoon of the fol- 
lowing Monday,^ when Samuel Talcott, Captain 
of the troop of Hartford County, rode into the 
meeting house yard and gave notice of his Ex- 
cellency's coming that way. Before leaving 
Wethersfield he had under his authority as as- 

^ On Monday, Oct. 31, 1687, Sir E. A. (with divers 
of the members of his council and other gentlemen 
attending him, and with his guard,) came to Hartford, 
where he was received with all respect and welcome 
congratulation that Connecticut was capable of. The 
troop of horse of that county conducted him honorably 
from the ferry through Wethersfield up to Hartford, 
where the trained bands of divers towns, (who had 
waited there some part of the week before, expect- 
ing his coming then, now again, being commanded 
by their leaders,) waited to pay him their respects at 
his coming. — Gershom Bulkeley's Will and Doom. 



306 Wadsworth 

sistant "created a constable authorizing- him to 
press boats and men to carry over his Excellency 
and retinue without delay." Also as soon as 
everything was in readiness the troop of horse 
started towards Wethersfield to meet and con- 
duct Gov. Andros to Hartford. 

It was almost dusk before the lookout on the 
South Green reported their approach. In a few 
minutes Captain Talcott on his flashy chestnut 
was seen coming up Queen street^ in front of his 
troop, but on this occasion his mount showed 
none of the fire or fancy steps which always dis- 
tinguished him in the parades of the company, the 
hard ride from Wethersfield to acquaint the Gov- 
ernor of the coming of his Excellency from that 
quarter and back again with the troop, having 
taken the gimp out of the little beauty. Upon 
his arrival at the edge of the meeting house yard 
Captain Talcott turned, while the troopers di- 
vided in the center and backing their mounts 
to the sides of the street, left a clear passage 
for Sir Edmund Andros and his company to pass 
between the train bands to the Meeting House. 

Two trumpeters preceded his Excellency, the 
jangling notes of their horns sounding strangely 
in the ears of those who had been accustomed 
to hear nothing but the meeting house bell 

' Main Street. 



Hiding the Charter 307 

or the roll of a drum to herald the arrival of a 
dignitary or a call to duty. Sir Edmund was 
mounted on a steel gray horse, whose fine bony 
head, tapering ears and crested neck showed that 
he carried in his veins the barb blood which 
Charles II. and Cromwell had introduced into 
England and which was now found in nearly all of 
the better mounts of the officers in the English 
army. He was a horse of great substance and 
power and carried his rider with that light, 
springy step which denotes courage and the ability 
to go fast and far. As he passed the troop horses 
and moved by the train bands the strain on the 
rein showed that the thirty-eight mile march from 
Norwich had not cooled the wild spirits in his 
veins, while his rider sat him with the grace and 
ease which is acquired only by years in the 
saddle. 

Joseph Dudley and John Fitz Winthrop, the 
latter having joined the party at Norwich, fol- 
lowed the Governor, and they were in turn fol- 
lowed by William Stoughton, Robert Mason, 
John Usher, John Pynchon, Bartholomew Gid- 
ney, Edward Ting and Secretary John West, all 
of which preceded twenty-five or thirty red coat- 
ed soldiers armed with small guns and short 
lances in the tops of them; 



308 Wadsworfh 

Sir Edmund Andros turned his horse from the 
street and passing between the trumpeters, who 
posted themselves on opposite sides of the cleared 
space between the train bands, rode almost to 
the Meeting House, on the steps of which Gov- 
ernor Treat, Deputy-Governor Bishop, the As- 
sistants and Deputies were drawn up to receive 
him. As he swung out of the saddle I could 
have brushed his coat with my hand, the com- 
pany of which I was lieutenant being close to 
the building. As he was not accompanied by an 
orderly and no one came forward to take his 
horse, Sir Edmund, turning towards me, said, 
"Lieutenant, detail a man to hold my horse until 
an orderly comes for him." 

As he spoke I glanced down the front rank of 
my company, and as every face was set and stern, 
fearing a refusal if an order was given, I stepped 
forward and saluting, said, "Your Excellency, I 
will consider it an honor to hold the rein of such 
a magnificent horse." The remark pleased him, J; 
and half turning towards me he said with a smile ** 
in which anyone could see with half an eye that 
he had an old trooper's love for the gallant gray, 
"He is the best bit of blood in New England," 
and after patting him on the neck he turned to 
greet the Governor, who, coming forward with 



i 



Hiding the Charter 309 

extended hands, said, "Yes, and you have the 
boldest blade and most fearless soldier in Con- 
necticut to hold him." 

"Not so, my dear Major," said Andros, with 
the smile of a courtier, "since I have heard and 
read of the fort fight at Narragansett that honor 
belongs to one who is higher in the ranks of the 
military, and one whom I hope this evening or 
on the morrow to have with me as a member of 
His Majesty's council. But it is late. The day 
has almost gone since I left Norwich before sun 
up in the hope of arriving before the hours de- 
voted to the fairies and witches on All Hallow 
E'en,^ and would have done so had not my com- 
pany been delayed at the Wethersfield ferry. 
However, my letter has advised you of my mis- 
sion and the orders under which I come. There 
is no occasion for treaty at this hour, as I see 
no provision has been made for lights in the 
Meeting House. I would therefore be pleased 
to have you and Deputy Governor Bishop, as 
well as your worthy Secretary, join the members 
of the council at dinner, for which our long ride 
has given us ample appetites. Two hours hence 

* "Halloween is thought to be a night when witches, 
devils, and other mischief-making beings are all abroad 
on their baneful, midnight errands." — Burns' Notes to 
his Halloween. 



310 Wadsworth 

we can meet in the Council Chamber at the inn 
where Fitz Winthrop advises me you hold many 
of your meetings and of which the Colony was 
at one time proprietor. Odds fish ! under such 
circumstances who would hesitate at being the 
governor of the granary of New England." 

As there was no one to express disapproval to 
the proposal of Sir Edmund, after an exchange 
of courtesies with the Assistants and Deputies, 
he and the Governor withdrew to the tavern, 
being followed by Deputy Governor Bishop, Sec- 
retary Allyn and the members of his Council, 
none of whom dismounted until after the time 
was fixed for the meeting. 

After my company had been dismissed and 
while I was standing in the square, one of Samuel 
Wyllys' black boys came to me and said that I 
was wanted at his master's house. Without hav- 
ing an opportunity to change my uniform I went 
there and on my arrival found Nathaniel Stanley 
and my brother in consultation with Mistress 
Ruth Wyllys. They had come for the Charter, 
Governor Treat having advised them that it 
would be necessary to surrender it to Sir Ed- 
mund Andros in accordance with the instruc- 
tions of His Majesty James II. As to what 
penalty would be imposed on either or both of 



Hiding the Charter 313 

them in the event of their failing to produce the 
Charter, they were unable to determine. Finally 
it was decided to take it. I returned with them 
and went up stairs into the Court Chamber. 

Before reciting what took place at the meeting 
it will be necessary to refer to the tavern in 
which it was held. The building was originally 
occupied by Jeremiah Adams, who came to 
Hartford with the Hooker company. After serv- 
ing as a constable he engaged in the grain trade, 
purchasing corn from the up river towns. In 
1660 he embarked in the liquor business, having 
secured the exclusive right to retail liquors in 
Hartford,^ and at the session of the General Court 
held at Hartford March 31, 1661-2 he was granted 
permission- to open an Ordinary for the entertain- 
ment of travelers. 

^ This Court doth order, that noe person in Hartford, 
except Jer: Adams shal sell wine, under a quarter cask, 
nor liquors under an Ankor. Order General Court 
May 17, 1660. 

*"It is granted and ordered by this Court, vpon the 
motion and desire of Jeremiah Adams, that ye house 
that the said Jer: doth now possess and improue for 
an Ordinary, or house of comon enterteinment, shalbe 
and remaine for the same end and vse and occupation 
for the future, both to ye said Jeremie and his suc- 
cessors, provided as hereafter is expressed: i. That 
ye said Jeremie, his heires and successors, carry on this 
worke, by such prson or prsons inhabiteing in ye said 
house as shalbe to ye good liking and approbation of 
ye Genii Court from time to time. 2. That ye said 



314 Wadsworth 

The venture was not a success, and in January, 
1666, the property, which consisted of three acres 
of land^ and the buildings on it, was mortgaged 
to the Colony, which eventually came into pos- 
session by foreclosure January 14, 1680. One of 
the first steps taken by the General Court after 

house be fitted and made capable to giue sufficient 
enterteinment as need and occasion shal require, both 
to neighbours and strangers. 3. That there be at all 
times necessary & comfortable accommodation and 
provison made for enterteinment of Travellers with 
horse and otherwise, and that both respecting wine 
and liquors and other food and comfortable refreshing 
both for man and beast. 4. It is ordered, that if Jer: 
Adams shall not attend his agreement in attending the 
provision made in ye foregoing Articles, he shal not 
forfeit his licence, but shalbe liable to be censured by 
the Court as they shal judg most suteable." 

^ The tavern stood on the land bounded by Grove 
(Orient), Main (Queen) and Atheneum (Wadsworth 
Lane) Streets to the Meeting House Alley, which was 
about one hundred and forty feet east of the present 
line of Prospect Street. It was known as the Bunch 
of Grapes, a name no doubt given it in 1679 or 80, as 
at a County Court held in Hartford December 4, 1679, 
Jeremy Adams "having no signe according to law" 
was ordered "to set up a compleat signe before the 
March Court or pay a fine of forty shillings." The 
building stood back from the street and is supposed to 
have been on the land now covered by the Universalist 
Church of Redeemer, and was in the next century suc- 
ceeded by the Black Horse Tavern, so called from a 
horse of that color painted on the sign, of which Sam- 
uel Flagg, who acquired the property through purchase 
and marriage, was in 1757 the proprietor. Flagg mar- 
ried Sarah Bunce, a daughter of Jonathan Bunce, whose 
wife Sarah was a daughter of Zachariah Sandford, a 
grandson of Jeremy Adams. 



Hiding the Charter 315 

obtaining possession was to set aside an upper 
room for its meetings, as well as the meetings 
held in connection with town and county affairs. 
After being in the tavern business for about four 
years the General Court at its May meeting in 
1685 ordered that it should be sold/ and on De- 
cember 2 of the same year the land and build- 
ings were purchased by Zachariah Sandford, a 
grandson of the original proprietor. 

After the transfer Sandford enlarged and im- 
proved the place, adding a wing to the northeast 
side of the building, the back wall of which ran 
parallel with the lane connecting Queen Street 
with the Meeting House Alley. This addition 
darkened a window in the council chamber, it 
being concealed by a valance. Also when mak- 
ing the addition a stairway was built to connect 
this window with the lane, a door which could 
be opened only from the inside leading to the 
latter. The window was also placed on hinges 
and was used as an exit by members during the 
sessions or occasionally for removing prisoners 

^This Court doe desire and impower Major John 
Tallcott, Capt. John Allyn, Mr. John Wadsworth, and 
Mr. Joseph Whiting to make sale of the house and 
homelott, now in the possession of the country, ac- 
cording to their best discression for the use of the 
colony, and do desire and impower Mr. Joseph Whit- 
ing, Treasurer, to signe the deed of sale. — Colonial 
Records. 



316 Wadsworth 

or witnesses who did not care to pass through 
the crowds that usually congregated in front of 
the Ordinary when court was in session. 

When a Deputy I frequently had occasion to 
use these stairs and now at the suggestion of 
Stanley I passed through the window with in- 
structions to await further orders. When closing 
the window I pushed the valance far enough 
aside so that I could see all that was being done 
in the Chamber, and by opening the window a 
trifle I could also hear everything that was said. 

As the hour for the meeting approached the 
servants of the inn entered the room and were 
soon busy under the supervision of a stranger 
whom I afterwards learned was one of Governor 
Andros' orderlies, putting the forms, joint stools 
and chairs in place for the meeting. The two 
tables were placed in the form of a T, one of the 
large leather chairs^ being placed in the center 

* Jeremy Adams died August ii, 1683. The inven- 
tory of his estate as preserved in the Probate Records 
of Hartford parcels off his household property as "in 
the little dining room" — "in the old parlor — in the 
parlor chamber — in the kitchen," and among the rest 
the following: 

In the Court Chamber two Tables & a Carpet 

I £ los 00. 
By one Doz. stools & a form i 10 00 

By 2 leather chayres and 4 other chayres, 

I 10 00 
etc., etc., etc. 



Hiding the Charter 317 

of the table that was crosswise of the room, with 
four chairs on either side of it, this being a suffi- 
cient number to seat the members of His Majes- 
ty's Council in attendance. The other leather 
chair was placed at the end of the table which 
made the stem of the letter and was within a 
few feet of the window behind which I was con- 
cealed. Six joint stools were placed on each side 
of this table, ten of them being for the Assist- 
ants, one for Deputy Governor Bishop and one 
for Secretary West, who as I afterwards found 
required a seat near the lights so as to be able to 
read his Excellency's commission. Between the 
table and the east wall forms were placed for 
the Deputies, who began to assemble in the 
chamber as soon as the fourteen candles in the 
two candelabra were lighted. These were placed 
on the lower table, one being about the center of 
it and the other at the further end. 

As soon as the Assistants entered the chamber 
they were shown to the places reserved for them, 
but none of them were seated until after Sir 
Edmund Andros, wearing his hat, all others be- 
ing uncovered, appeared with those who had 
dined with him. As soon as he was seated at 
the center of the upper table all of the others 
took their places, while the orderly retired and 



318 Wadsworth 

an officer appeared at the door. Sir Edmund 
ordered it closed and instructed his Secretary to 
read his commission as Governor of New Eng- 
land, together with the additional powers and 
instructions given him in reference to the Colony, 
of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and 
the Colony of Connecticut. 

With a voice as clear as a bell Secretary West 
read the commands of King James respecting 
his Territory and Dominion of New England in 
America and followed it with a copy of the order 
from the King and his counsellors to Sir Edmund 
Andros to annex Connecticut to his government. 
When he sat down there was an ominous silence. 
As I glanced over the familiar faces of the As- 
sistants and Deputies many of them looked ghast- 
ly in the flickering candle light, while the old 
look of determination which was seen there while 
there was a chance of saving the Charter was 
succeeded by one almost akin to despair. 

Of the thirty-four Deputies elected the pre- 
ceding May, the following were present : 

Nathaniel Stanley and Ceprian Niccols for 
Hartford, Henry Wollcott for Windsor, William 
Lewes and John Stanley for Farmington, Daniel 
Harris for Middletown, Moses Mansfield and 
Abram Dickerman for New Haven, John Beard 



Hiding the Charter 319 

and Samuel Buckingham for Milford, Samuel 
Sherman for Stratford, Samuel Hayes for Nor- 
walk, Thomas Leffingwell for Norwich, Abraham 
Brunson for Lyme, Henry Crane for Killing- 
worth, William Johnson and John Grave for Guil- 
ford, Thomas Yale and John Hall for Walling- 
ford, Ebenezer Johnson for Derby, George Gates 
for Haddem, Elezur Street for Branford, John 
Chapman and William Dudly for Saybrook, The 
towns of Simsbury,^ Woodbury, Stamford and 
Stonington were not represented. 

By the table at which Governor Treat sat with 
Deputy Governor Bishop on his left were grouped 
the Assistants, John Talcott, John Allyn, Will- 
iam Jones, John Wadsworth, Andrew Leete, Ben- 
jamin Newbery, Giles Hamlin, James Fitch and 
Samuel Mason. On the right of the Governor 
there was a vacant stool. It was the one reserved 
for Assistant Samuel Talcott, the Captain of the 
Hartford troop. As it was apparent that Sir 
Edmund Andros was waiting for Governor Treat 
to make a statement, the latter beckoned to Na- 
thaniel Stanley, who was seated at the end of 
one of the forms. He came forward and after 
handing the Charter to the Governor, sat down 

' Simsbury had no representative in the General 
Court from 1675 to 1687, when Peter Bewell was 
elected. 



320 WadswoHh 

on the vacant stool, which was so close to the 
window that I could have touched it without 
entering the chamber. 

Governor Treat snipped the deer skin thong 
with which the Charter was tied and laid it on 
the table. As it unrolled the illuminated head 
and picture of Charles II. on the parchment 
could be seen by all. Pointing towards it and 
addressing Sir Edmund Andros as though he 
were conversing with him, the Governor said, 
"That Charter represents the accumulated ef- 
forts of the founders of this Colony and the toil 
and savings of their children. For over half a 
century they have carried the flag of civilization 
into the wilderness, clearing the forests, drain- 
ing the marshes and making two blades of grass 
grow where there had been but one before, while 
at all times they stood ready to defend their 
homes and the homes of those dwelling in the 
neighboring colonies from the attacks of the In- 
dians. 

"In the second year of the founding of this 
Colony one-half of the able bodied men left their 
families and homes, which were then little better 
than hovels, on the river, to attack the Pequots, 
who, true to their nature, were destroying all 
that was near and dear to us. With fire and 



Hiding the Chartei 321 

sword they carried destruction and death almost 
to extermination among them. Since that time 
Connecticut was not attacked by the red men, 
but the annoyances continued on account of the 
constant depredations and desultory war which 
harassed the other colonies, until at the Narra- 
gansett fort fight when fully one-third of Con- 
necticut's troops were slain or wounded. They 
gave their lives freely that New England might 
live. Their blood was shed to save the homes 
guaranteed to them and their children by that 
Charter, and it is like giving up life itself to sur- 
render it. 

"When the Fundamental Orders were adopted 
the Connecticut valley was a wilderness. Later, 
when our fathers purchased the river right and 
Saybrook fort from the Warwick patentees 
through George Fenwick, they freely contributed 
the dole of grain, although they could ill spare it, 
for 'pay' to meet the obligations of the Colony. 
This tax upon their resources was followed by 
another demand to provide for the expenses in- 
curred by Governor John Winthrop in procuring 
that Charter from King Charles II. of blessed 
memory, the products of their fields being car- 
ried to New London to meet the bills issued in 
London in their name and under the order of the 



322 Wadsworfh 

General Court. And now after expending all 
this blood and treasure we are called upon to 
surrender the Charter for expediency in the con- 
duct of a government in which we will be but a 
small part and in which we will have virtually no 
voice. 

"At this time while there is still in my mind a 
doubt as to the legality of this procedure which 
is being forced upon us for what has been termed 
'reasons of state/ I, as one of those who fought 
and struggled in the name of the Colony, am 
willing to yield a nominal consent until further 
inquiry can be made, but do so well aware that 
if the rights of the people are invaded and we 
cannot obtain redress it will result in another 
removal to a territory under a flag that respects' 
its own acts. I, for one, will be the first to dis- 
pose of what I have here and with what goods can 
be carried turn again towards the setting sun, 
where there are lands so vast that no man knows 
their boundaries and within which millions yet 
unborn shall find a heritage. The Indians tell of 
inland seas beyond the falling waters — seas that 
have never been seen by the white man — and 
plains of grass, as limitless as the ocean, over 
which roam herds of woolly cattle and droves of 
horses that have never yielded obedience to 



Hiding the Charter 323 

man. On these lands we can build new homes, 
within which there may in centuries to come be 
found the germs of an empire greater than that 
which owes allegiance to the flag of England. 

"The sons of men who founded colonies can 
found others. They are inured to toil, and while 
the homes of childhood have many associations 
near and dear to all of us, there is a greater and 
a grander instinct which has grown up among us 
in the New World — the privilege of thinking 
and acting as freemen. It is our Magna Charta." 

When Governor Treat sat down, my brother 
John arose, his tall, slim figure, sharp features and 
long gray hair giving him the look of a patriarch. 
Addressing Governor Andros in a low, clear 
voice, he said, "Fifty-one years ago I came to 
these parts, a small child walking with my father 
in the Hooker company. What you see here now 
was then a forest with a few Indian villages be- 
tween this place and Windsor. I grew up in this 
Colony and know what toil and trouble fall to 
the lot of the emigrant and with which no sane 
man would contend were it not that within each 
one of us there is a still small voice, demanding 
in return for toil, the freedom due to all men 
and the privilege of making their ways in the 
world on an equality with each other. 



324 Wadsworth 

"The pampered life of courts or the restfulness 
of towns, is unknown to those whom you meet 
in Connecticut, They are, and have been for a 
generation, children of the soil. They till the 
earth for what it may bring forth, and with the 
sweat of labor on their brows stand ready at all 
times to defend their homes and their lives from 
those who may feel disposed to invade them. As 
protection from the Indians, each home in the 
Colony is armed with musket, powder and ball, 
each householder being required to keep a stated 
supply on hand under penalty from the General 
Court.^ To this constant state of readiness I at- 
tribute Connecticut's freedom from attack. The 
Indians, remembering the fate of the Pequots, 
know that these Englishmen do not wait to be 
attacked, to be burned in their homes, but have 
from their first coming stood as the aggressor, 

"Where would many of the towns of Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island and Plymouth, now under 
your government, be to-day were it not for 

^ Every male person within this Jurissdiction, that 
is above the age of sixteen years, whether Magistrates, 
Ministers or any other, (though exempted from train- 
ing, watching and warding,) shall bee allways provided 
with, and have in readiness by them halfe a pound of 
Powder, two pound of serviceable Bulletts or shott, 
and two fathom of match to every Matchlock, uppon 
the penalty of five shillings a month for each persons 
default therein. Code of 1650. 



Hiding the Charter 325 

the timely aid of the Connecticut troops, led 
by the GovernoV of this Colony, who has just 
addressed you? Ask of those living in Spring- 
field, Hadley and the other towns on the river 
how they were saved from destruction, and when 
the issue was trembling in the balance in the 
Narragansett fort fight, when the Massachusetts 
forces fell back before the withering fire of the 
red men. Governor Treat and his Connecticut 
followers, a few of whom are in this chamber, 
rushed over the banked up bodies of the dead 
into the fort and returned the fire of the enemy 
with their clubbed muskets. 

"Like yourself, the inhabitants of Connecticut 
are Englishmen. Like you, we are proud of the 
land of our birth, but in troublous times, for faith 
and freedom, our fathers left the land of their 
nativity, not in the hope of extending the hold- 
ings of England in the New World, but of mak- 
ing homes in which they would be permitted to 
worship God as their conscience dictated. As 
you have lived at court, there is no occasion to 
speak of Laud and Stafford, although it was be- 
fore your time. Their acts and their fate show 
what trust can be placed in Kings, while the fate 
of their master proved that the homes of English- 
men cannot be invaded with impunity even under 
the guise of prerogative. 



326 Wadsworth 

"The King whom you represent is that man's 
son. During the two years of his reign he has 
created more trouble for the Colonies of New 
England than all which preceded them since the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Complaints 
against our faith have been urged by Randolph, 
a betrayer of his brethren, who of all men knows 
that the people of this land are of one church and 
one faith. For it they sacrificed their homes in 
England and sought the wilds of America. It 
shall not be changed. Death alone can alter that. 
It will come when the mantle of mortality is cast 
aside for immortality. That faith is the well 
spring of our being. It is nearer and dearer to 
us than the titles to our homes which you now 
hope to cloud by depriving the Colony of the 
Charter that was to belong to those named in it 
and their descendants forever as stated in the 
body of the patent. A great wrong is being done 
us and the black looks of your associates shall 
not deter me from saying so in your presence. 
Every man in this Colony has faced death too 
often to hesitate when called upon to express his 
opinions. We have grown familiar with the pale 
rider of the Revelations, as his call is but a bid- 
ding to another realm in which the wicked will 
cease from troubling and where the toil-stained 



Hiding the Charter 327 

but none the less welcome wayfarer shall find 
rest. 

"Coming- as you do, a soldier under orders, I 
expect that you will not hesitate in the perform- 
ance of your duty. Under such conditions you 
are compelled to act, but in the doing remember 
that you are governing not the enemies of Eng- 
land, but her sons, who may again in time have 
equal authority with yourself as when they raised 
the late Lord Protector to powers greater than 
were ever wielded by an English King. In time 
even the Stuarts will learn that the voice of the 
people is the voice of God, the all redeeming, all 
ruling and all forgiving providence of mankind. 
Peace be with you." 

After my brother resumed his chair Governor 
Andros rose and turning towards him, said, "It 
is with pleasure I learn that the worthy gentle- 
man who has just spoken is a descendant of the 
Wadsworths. England has few better names 
among her yeomen. In London and even in 
Guernsey I have heard of the descendants of 
Duke Wada and the giantess Bell and those val- 
iant squires whose names are not only found on 
the army rolls, but are also perpetuated in the 
names of towns in the north of England. No bet- 
ter soldiers than the Wadsworths ever graced a 



328 Wadsworth 

camp, ever fearless and bold, free of speech in de- 
bate and firm of hand in fight. Massachusetts 
now mourns one.^ He fell at Sudbury in the King 
Philip war, battling against odds, and after hear- 
ing your discourse I have no doubt but that the 
Connecticut stem of the family, which shows by 
the lilies of France on its shield that its ances- 
tors fought at either Crecy or Agincourt, shall, 
when the opportunity presents itself, make a 
mark that will endure for all time. 

"It also pleases me to see that even as our 
Anglo-Saxon ancestors bearing their war chief 
on their shields proclaimed him their king, the 
old blood again asserts itself by raising the most 
successful leader of the Connecticut troops in the 
recent troubles to the Governor's chair, an au- 
thority which I hope to continue on the morrow 
by having him become, pursuant to His Majes- 
ty's command, a member of the council for New 
England. And while a number of you at this 
time yield reluctantly, it is well to remember that 
even Oliver Cromwell said that 'the ground of 
necessity for the justifying of men's actions is 
above all considerations of instituted law.' " 

When Sir Edmund Andros concluded his re- 

* Captain Samuel Wadsworth of Milton, who was 
killed with thirty of his men near Green Hill April 
i8, 1676, while defending Sudbury from the Indians. 




G1 










P'/ 







THE WADSWORTH ARMS 



Hiding the ChaHer 331 

marks, every one in the chamber turned involun- 
tarily towards Andrew Leete. He had risen from 
his stool when reference was made to Cromwell, 
and moving towards the table rested both of his 
hands upon the edge of it. Leete's face was col- 
orless and as he leaned forward between the can- 
delabra, the twitching of the muscles showed 
that he was laboring under a great strain, 
while it was apparent to those who knew him 
that he was on the verge of one of the epileptic 
fits which had made his life a burden and on ac- 
count of which, as I afterwards learned, I was 
directed to attend him in the June proceeding 
when he carried one of the Charters of the Col- 
ony to Guilford, where it was concealed in a hid- 
ing place of the Whitfield house until after the 
troubles over it subsided. 

Knowing that it would be folly to interfere 
with him, those who were near by drew away, 
while Andros and the occupants of the table at 
which he sat, settled themselves complacently in 
their chairs to hear what he had to say. For a 
few moments Leete was unable to speak. His 
lips moved, but no sound came from them, but 
when the words did come they gushed forth like 
a torrent. Raising to his full height he turned 
towards Andros and said, "You speak of Crom- 



332 Wadsworth 

well. You try to justify your act and the acts 
of your patron by his words. You may have seen 
him and learned what he did, but your knowledge 
ends there. Now that we meet face to face I will 
tell you that my father and Cromwell were boys 
together in Huntingdonshire and knew each other 
in early manhood. Also, after the crisis in Eng- 
land, after Charles Stuart had laid his head on 
the block, he was among those whom Cromwell 
asked to return to his native land and lend a hand 
in creating a government of the people for the 
people. Disborow, Whitfield and others ac- 
cepted the invitation. My father did not. He 
had cast his lot with New England and remained 
here. In his time he was Governor of New Ha- 
ven and of the United Colonies under the 
Charter. Half of his life was devoted to the 
building up of Connecticut and maintaining its 
Charter rights, as you no doubt remember, if 
your visit to Saybrook has not passed from your 
memory. In that day you retired discomfited, 
and by God's help you shall this time." 

As he continued Andros' face became black 
with passion. The large veins in his forehead 
swelled as though they would burst, but Leete 
either did not see or care for the storm that was 
apt to burst forth at any moment. Swaying back- 



Hiding the Charter 333 

ward and forward as he spoke, he continued, 
"Your present mission shows that King James 
has yet to learn that in order to govern a people 
it is necessary to retain their affection. He has 
forgotten that covenants fairly entered into must 
be kept. Take that away and what right has a 
man to anything? The rights of a slave may be 
invaded without protest, but no loyal subject will 
yield without a hearing. In properly constituted 
monarchies the crown is the guarantee of pro- 
tection, not the symbol of oppression. All of us' 
owe obedience to constituted authority, but obe- 
dience and allegiance end when the sovereign as- 
sumes more authority than is allowed by the 
laws." 

Pointing to the Charter as it lay half unrolled 
on the table, Leete with the voice of a prophet 
said, "That Charter is in force at this hour. No 
judgment has been rendered against it. It was 
granted under the great seal of England and 
cannot be surrendered unless the surrender is 
given under the seal of this Colony. Remember 
it is Charles I.'s last word and that is why I use 
it, that measures obtained by force do not en- 
dure." 

As Leete uttered the last words and before 
anyone could reach him he plunged headlong on 



334 Wadsworth 

the table between the candelabra, his outstretched 
arms upsetting both of them. In an instant the 
room was in darkness and before the ensuing 
confusion subsided Nathaniel Stanley handed me 
the Charter through the window. Slipping the 
precious parchment under my tunic I rushed 
down the stairs, and opening the door cautiously 
stepped into the lane. As I turned to close it a 
man grabbed me and in doing so said, "Oddsfish, 
what have we here?" 

Shaking him ofif as a terrier would a trouble- 
some rat, I wheeled and by the dim light of the 
moon, which was in its first quarter,^ I found 
myself face to face with two trumpeters. Both 
of them showed by their actions that they were 
half gone with drink, and before I had time to 
say a word the companion of the man who 
grabbed me answered for me by saying, "It's the 
bumpkin of a Lieutenant who, instead of detail- 
ing a man to take His Excellency's horse, held it 
himself." With a laugh and a leer and a remark 
that I would know better than that when Sir Ed- 
mund took command of the Connecticut troops, 
they passed on towards Queen Street, while I 

* October 31 (old style) 1687 -f 11 = November 11 
(new style) 1687. The moon was new November 5 
new style. Therefore, on October 31 (old style) it 
was six days old or about in its first quarter. 



Hiding the Charter 337 

hurried through the lane to the Meeting House 
Alley, down which I ran at full speed until the 
river was reached. It only took a few moments 
to cross it in one of the flat bottom boats which 
were pulled up on the bank, and in less than ten 
minutes after the Charter was taken from the 
Council Chamber it was back again in the front 
parlor of Samuel Wyllys' house. 

Fortunately Mistress Wyllys was alone at the 
time, all of the help on the place, white and black, 
having gone to the Meeting House yard and that 
vicinity to see the English soldiers in their red 
coats and pick up what gossip they could about 
those who accompanied Governor Andros. After 
telling her what had occurred in the chamber and 
of my encounter with the trumpeters she said 
that there was but one thing for me to do and 
that was to hide until Sir Edmund and all of his 
spies had returned to Boston. As for the Charter, 
I could not take it with me and it could not re- 
main in the house, as a general search might be 
made for it, so she said, "Hide it in the hollow of 
the oak. It will shelter it just as the leaves of 
the Boscobel oak hid the King, who granted it, 
from Cromwell's soldiers." And hide it we did, 
first wrapping it in my tunic, "for no one," as 



338 Wadsworth 

Mistress Wyllys remarked, "would go to the 
woods in the garb of a lieutenant of the train 
band." 

Habited in a coat and cap of her husband I 
was on the point of starting when she called me 
back and bade me drag Lion's kennel from the 
rear of the house to the foot of the old oak and 
fasten it there. No one would disturb the tree 
or its contents with that huge mastiff there. He 
was so ferocious that but few people on the 
Wyllys place could approach him, and would 
have been killed on account of that failing had 
he not in his younger days terrified the Indians 
and prowling blacks so that they feared him more 
than an evil spirit. While I was doing this 
Mistress Wyllys made me a small packet of bread 
and powdered^ beef, and within half an hour 
after running down the back stairs of the court 
chamber I was off to find a hiding place in the 
bush. 

After leaving the Wyllys yard I followed the 
west bank of the Little River until opposite 
Allyn's Mill.^ Crossing the river at this point 
I skirted the edge of Lord's HilF to the Brick 

' Salted. 

" It stood near the stepping stones in the Park River. 

' Now Asylum Hill. 



Hiding the Charter 339 

Hill Road,^ which I followed to the Venturers 
Field^ through which in those days a road ran to 
the Cow Pasture^ and the Blue Hills. As I went 
along I decided to hide in the vicinity of Sims- 
bury, where I knew I could get food and if neces- 
sary assistance from my sister,* the wife of John 
Terry. Striking into the Simsbury road I soon 
crossed the branch of the little river on a tree 
that subsequently marked the boundary line of 
some lands which I received in exchange for a 
few lots upon the river, but after climbing the 
hill on the other side of the brook I found that 
the moon had set and that it would not be possi- 
ble to cross the mountain before morning. 

While in a quandary as to where to spend the 
balance of the night I bethought myself of the 
hollow tree in the Honey Pot Lot,* which al- 

* It led to the "Brick Hill," or clay bank through 
which the New England road runs north of Sigourney 
Street. 

"This field lay north of the "Brick Hill" and ex- 
tended to Albany Avenue. It contained about 35 acres. 

^ The Cow pasture lay west of Windsor Avenue and 
north of Albany Avenue. It contained about 1000 acres 
and was held in common by the original proprietors 
of the North Side. 

* Elizabeth Wadsworth, oldest daughter of William 
Wadsworth and Eliza Stone. She married John Terry 
of Windsor. They moved to Simsbury after the King 
Philip war. 

" According to Aunt Lucy Wadsworth, who died 
August 30, 1900, at the age of 98 years and 8 months, 



340 Wadsworth 

though over two miles from where I was stand- 
ing, was preferable to perching on a limb to keep 
out of the way of bears, wild cats, or worse — men 
who might be looking for me. Following the 
ridge on the right of the road it was not long 
before I located the tree and within ten minutes 
after crawling into it, was sleeping as soundly 
as though Charter troubles were unknown. 

The sun was two hours high when I awoke 
with an appetite that caused Mistress Wyllys' 
bread and beef to disappear very rapidly, and 
after washing it down with a draught from a 
spring on the hillside a short distance from the 
hollow tree, I turned towards the mountain 
which separated me from Simsbury and the beau- 
tiful Farmington valley. As I ascended I could 
see the smoke from the chimneys in Hartford 
and the sight of it brought a desire to know what 
was being done there and how Mistress Wyllys 
explained my unexpected absence to my wife 
and children at their home Up Neck. After 

the Honey Pot Lot was located in what is or was until 
recently known as the Ed Kenyon farm. As to wheth- 
er a pot full of honey or sufficient honey to fill a pot 
was found in the hollow tree she never knew, but 
family tradition, and her great age carried her back 
to those who had seen and conversed with the im- 
mediate descendants of Captain Joseph Wadsworth, 
says that he slept at that place in a hollow tree on 
the night that the Charter was taken from Andros. 



Hiding the Charter 341 

crossing the Little Phillip, I descended to the 
shelf or break in the mountain through which 
the crooked Weatogue Brook rattles over the 
rocks, while on my left Big Phillip, its sides al- 
ready darkening with the shadows of the after- 
noon, rose to the horizon. 

As I had no desire to be seen in Simsbury I 
leisurely climbed the steep side of the larger 
mountain and on reaching the top, descended to 
King Phillip's cave. It is an oblong hole in the 
face of a cliff about twenty feet from the sum- 
mit and into which it penetrates twelve or fifteen 
feet. This was where the rebellious Indian hid 
when going to or coming from, I do not now re- 
member which, a visit to the Mohawks from 
whom, after the destruction of the Narragansett 
Fort, he sought aid in his war with the English. 
Fortunately he did not succeed, and as I lay there 
under the warm November sun and watched the 
sunshine and shadow playing hide and seek over 
the valley through which the Farmington River 
ran like a broad ribbon of silver, I could not in 
my heart blame that fearless warrior, even if he 
had a red skin and tried to burn our homes, for 
fighting for the land which the white man was 
taking from his people, occasionally exchanging 
a few coats, hoes, axes or beads for a territory 
broader in extent than the domain of a duke. 



342 Wadsworth 

The Farmington valley never appeared to be 
more beautiful than it did that day. With 
the setting sun the blue haze, which hung over 
the hills during the afternoon, changed to a rose 
pink and finally deepened to purple as the fad- 
ing rays of light spread towards the Turkey 
Hills and Northington,^ while the trees decked in 
all the gaudy colors of autumn filled in a picture 
that is still fresh in my memory. As the eye 
turned from the banks of the river, where the red 
leaves of the soft maple and the sumac nodded to 
their shadows in the water, it passed over the 
golden yellow of the ash, hard maple and birch, 
the russet brown of the oak and the deep green 
of the hemlock, pine and balsam, all of them be- 
ing mingled in delightful confusion, until near 
the summit of the mountain, where the 
trees give way to the gray moss and gnarled 
cedars, which appear to be almost black when 
seen from the valley. Did Moses, when he stood 
on Pisgah, see a fairer land than this? 

The following day, as I sat on the bank of the 
Weatogue Brook listening to the music of the 
water as it rattled the pebbles, clattered over the 
rocks and finally plunged with a roar to the level 
of the river, an Indian came and stood by a 

* Now Avon. 



Hiding the Charter 343 

stunted hemlock. I motioned for him to be seat- 
ed, but he shook his head and said, "None of our 
tribe ever sit here." When I appeared to be 
astonished at his answer he told me that he was 
an old man of the tribe which moved from Massa- 
coe^ when the English came and settled on the 
Housatonic, and that he had returned to once 
more feast his eyes on the scenes of his childhood 
before going hence. 

I also gathered from him that many years be- 
fore the white man came to the big river the 
Indians grew their corn and beans in the valley 
of the Tunxis.- That one year the rains came 
and destroyed two plantings, the river then, as 
now, becoming after a prolonged storm a raging 
torrent. At this time one of the sachems of the 
tribe had his wigwam on a little knoll near the 
edge of the stream, and as a consequence he lost 
not only his plantings of corn and beans, but also 
his place of shelter and all his belongings which 
could not be carried in canoes. After the second 
flood he built a wigwam on the ledge of the 
mountain and planted corn there as well as in the 
valley. As there were no more storms the corn 
grew from both plantings. 

* Indian name of Simsbury. 

* Indian name of the Farmington River. 



344 Wadsworfh 

One day, when the corn was soft in the ear, 
the leaves on mountain trees were seen to turn 
upwards as they do before a storm. There was 
no wind, but still the leaves rattled like the pop- 
lar at sunrise. In a few moments the earth trem- 
bled like the water when the wind touches it 
softly. Then all was still. Hobbamock, the 
spirit of evil, was angry with his people. The 
next day the young men who hunted on the 
mountain found that seams had appeared in the 
rocks and that there was running water where 
there had always been dry land. Before night the 
low places in this depression of the hills were un- 
der water and in a few days the sachem's corn was 
destroyed and his wigwam afloat. The lake on 
the mountain top had a mate. From that day 
none of the Indians would rest there. The old 
Indian also said that during the winter the ice 
split the rocks so that the water ran off. leaving 
the noisy mountain brook and fall to remind 
them of the displeasure of their god. 

Thursday morning the messenger that my sis- 
ter sent to Farmington came down the river with 
the news that John Wadsworth had returned 
from Hartford with a commission as Justice of 
the Peace under the new Governor and that Sir 
Edmund Andros and his troop of red coats had 




EATOGUE BROOK FALLS 



Hiding the Charter 347 

departed for Fairfield with the intention of swear- 
ing in the sheriffs and custom officers in the towns 
and seaports. When the information was com- 
municated to me I started for Farmington, where 
I first learned what happened in the Council 
Chamber after the lights went out. My brother 
told me that Sir Edmund Andros did not appear 
to be the least disconcerted by the incident, his 
only order being that no one should be permitted 
to leave the room until the candles were relit. In 
response to a command from the officer at the 
door, Sandford and his servants hurried in with 
lights. When the candles were replaced in the 
candelabra and lighted it was found that there 
were no absentees, but that the Charter had dis- 
appeared. Leete still lay on the table and fully 
half an hour elapsed before he recovered con- 
sciousness. 

Andros saw at a glance that he had been 
tricked, how he did not know, and he was too 
proud to inquire, while in all probability he con- 
sidered it dangerous or possibly useless to make 
a search for the parchment which had caused 
him so much annoyance. With a sang froid and 
a deliberation for which my brother ever after- 
wards admired him. Sir Edmund arose, and after 
saying a few words of condolence over the un- 



348 Wadsworth 

fortunate incident, he remarked that there was 
no occasion to continue the meeting. Then ad- 
dressing Secretary Allyn he ordered him to make 
the following entry in the records of the Colony: 

His Excellency, Sir Edmund Andros Knight, 
Captain General and Governor of His Majesty's 
Territories and Dominions in New England by 
order of His Majesty James the second King of 
England, Scotland, France and Ireland, the 
thirty-first of October, 1687, took into his hands 
the Government of this Colony of Connecticut, it 
being by His Majesty annexed to the Massachu- 
setts and other Colonies under his Excellencies 
Government. Finis. 

My brother also said that Andros intended to 
add the last word and ordered the book brought 
to him for that purpose, but when he tried Sec- 
retary Allyn's pen he found that he could not 
write with it. He therefore instructed him to 
complete the record.^ 

On the following day Sir Edmund Andros sent 
for Governor Treat and Secretary Allyn and ad- 
vised them of his plans. They communicated 

* It has been repeatedly stated, on what authority 
does not appear, that this record, or at least the word 
"Finis" was written by Andros himself. A glance at 
the original is sufficient to show that it is throughout 
in the handwriting of Secretary Allyn. — J. Hammond 
Trumbull. 



Hiding the Charier 349 

them to the Assistants and Deputies who were 
still in Hartford, and a little before noon all of 
them repaired to the Ordinary where His Ex- 
cellency lodged and escorted him with the mem- 
bers of his council to the Meeting House where 
the occasion of his coming was publicly stated. 
He also commanded His Majesty's letters patent 
for the government of New England and His 
Majesty's orders to His Excellency for annexing 
the Colony of Connecticut to the Dominion of 
New England and to take the same under his 
government to be publicly read.^ After this was 
done Robert Treat and John Allyn were sworn 
members of His Majesty's council. On the fol- 

^ Being arrived at Hartford, he (Andros) is greeted 
and caressed by the governor and assistants, (whose 
part it was, being the heads of the people, to be most 
active in what was now to be done,) and some say, 
though I will not confidently assert it, that the govern- 
or and one of his assistants did declare to him the 
vote of the general court for their submission to him. 
However, after some treaty between his excellency 
and them that evening, he was the next morning 
waited on and conducted by the governor, deputy 
governor, assistants and deputies, to the court cham- 
ber, and by the governor himself directed to the gov- 
ernor's seat; and being there seated, (the late governor, 
assistants and deputies being present, and the cham- 
ber thronged as full of people as it was capable of,) 
his excellency declared, that his majesty had, accord- 
ing to their desire, given him a commission to come 
and take on him the government of Connecticut, and 
caused his commission to be publickly read. — Gershom 
Bulkeley's Will and Doom. 



350 Wadsworth 

lowing day His Excellency's council named the 
Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs for Hartford, 
New Haven, New London and Fairfield Coun- 
ties and marched out of town, 

I returned to Hartford on Friday and the fol- 
lowing night removed the Charter from the hol- 
low oak and concealed it in a candle box^ which 
was fitted into the stone foundation of my house. 

* A tradition of the Cook family of Harwinton, 
Conn., states that "Captain Wadsworth and Captain 
Cyprian Nichols, of Hartford, agreed that they wou|d 
try to save the charter; that Wadsworth gave Captain 
Nichols the choice of whether he would undertake to 
extinguish the candles or hide the charter. Nichols 
chose the former, and upon receiving a prearranged 
signal, personally and by others extinguished all of the 
lights in the Council Cnamber, and that Captain Wads- 
worth seized the charter, secreted it in the oak, com- 
ing back as quickly as possible. Late that night, or 
very soon thereafter at the dead of night, Captain 
Wadsworth brought the charter to his own house with 
the intention of secreting it there, without anyone 
knowing of that fact. Upon his arriving home, to his 
dismay, he found that his wife had been suddenly 
taken ill with the colic, and he had to impart to her or 
some other member of the family the nature of his em- 
ployment, and thereupon the charter, placed in an old 
candle-box, was secreted in the corner of Captain 
Wadsworth's cellar, and the earth replaced in such a 
way as to thoroughly conceal it. His injunctions to 
the person to whom his secret had to be disclosed were 
that if anything should happen to him, they should 
communicate to Captain Cyprian Nichols the secret of 
its hiding-place." This version is traced to Captain 
Joseph Wadsworth's daughter Hannah. She told it to 
her grandson Allan Cook, who repeated it to R. Man- 
ning Chipman, author of the History of Harwinton. 



Hiding the Charter 351 

It remained there unasked for, as but few in the 
Colony knew what had become of it when it dis- 
appeared so mysteriously from the Council Cham- 
ber on All Hallow E'en in 1687, until the May 
session of the General Court in 1698, when I 
showed it to the Governor and Council and was 
instructed to retain it until further orders. The 
original at that time was in the hands of Sam- 
uel Wyllys, it having been brought back to Hart- 
ford by Andrew Leete and read to the freemen 
on May 9, 1689, when for the peace and safety of 
these parts the government was re-established, 
as it was before Sir Edmund Andros took it. 
From May, 1698, to May, 1715, the duplicate 
charter lay in its box in the cellar. Over twenty- 
seven years had elapsed since it was taken from 
the Council Chamber, and as almost all of those 
who participated in those stirring incidents had 
passed away I deemed it advisable to return it to 
the Governor and General Court, which after a 
conference, passed the following resolution ■} 

* The resolution in the original paper is thus en- 
dorsed by the clerks: "Past in the Lower House. 
Test. Sam'll Cooke Clerk. Past in the Upper House 
in the Negative. Test. Hez: Wyllys, Secty." The 
Committee of Conference are noted, to wit, Matthew 
Allyn, Roger Woolcott, and John Clarke. Their agree- 
ment, viz.: twenty shillings to Capt. Wadsworth for the 
services mentioned in the Resolution, is also noted and 
the following additional endorsements occur: "Past in 
the Upper House. Test. Hez: Wyllys. Secry. Past in 



352 Wadsworth 

"Upon consideration of the faithful and good 
service of Captain Joseph Wadsworth of Hart- 
ford, especially in securing the duplicate Char- 
ter^ of this Colony in a very troublesome season 

the Lower House. Test. Sam'll Cooke, Clerk." The 
amendment, viz: "twenty shillings," is in the hand- 
writing of Secretary Wyllys. 

See in Original Papers, Finance and Currency, Vol. 
I, No. 72; also Col. Rec. Vol. IV, p. 351. 

* It was the custom in the time of Charles II., as in- 
deed it is today, especially in England to execute im- 
portant documents in duplicate, or even in triplicate, 
so that if one should be lost in transmission across the 
ocean, the others might be preserved. Albert C. Bates, 
the Librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society, 
sends me the following note in reference to the two 
Connecticut Charters: "Much confusion, it seems to 
me, has arisen from the diverse and indefinite meanings 
of some of the terms most frequently used in speaking 
or writing of these charters. Two charters, each sup- 
posed to be the exact counterpart of the other, were 
made out and signed and both were sealed on May 
ID, 1662. In law each was an original and each was 
equally valid. Of course in "passing the seals," the 
final process in establishing their authenticity, both 
could not have been sealed at the same moment, one 
must have preceded the other, and this first one is the 
historical original. But only in this strict and limited 
historical sense can either one be designated as "the 
original charter." In the common usage of words both 
are originals and either one might be called the origi- 
nal, the other being then called the duplicate. And in 
fact each is called "the duplicate" in the charters them- 
selves, this phrase occurring in both documents: "these 
our letters Patent, or the Duplicate or Exemplificacon 
thereof." The word duplicate meaning simply the 
other — the one not at hand — the one not under discus- 
sion — whichever one of the two that might happen to 
be. The word is used in exactly this sense at the 



Hiding the Charter 353 

when our Constitution was struck at, and in 
safety keeping and preserving the same ever 
since unto this day, the assembly does, as a. token 

present time by English historical writers in reference 
to similar documents of which more than one original 
was made. The identity of the "historical original" 
charter, the one which first receive the attachment of 
the "broad seal" of the realm, has been recently settled 
by the discovery in the English archives of the record 
of the fees paid for the two documents. For "the 
charter," that is the one first sealed, a charge of 8£ 9S. 
was made with a further "fee thereupon" of 5£, and 
for "the duplicate" charter a charge of i £ 4S. Un- 
fortunately a large portion of one of the two charters 
is missing, but three copies of it are extant, all made 
at an early date. Each of these three copies has at 
the end following the signature the words "per fine 
five pounds," thus establishing this as being the one 
upon which the fee was paid and therefore as the his- 
torical original. That the one now imperfect is the one 
upon which the words "per fine five pounds" were 
written, there is the negative evidence that they do not 
appear upon the other one which is complete and per- 
fect, also the positive evidence that from each of the 
three copies two words are missing which in the now 
imperfect original are interlined in so fine a hand that 
they might easily escape the notice of all but the most 
careful copyist. The imperfect charter, the historical 
original, has for many years reposed in "the charter 
box" in the rooms of the Connecticut Historical Socie- 
ty; the complete charter, the historical duplicate, is 
exhibited in the Connecticut State Library at the Capi- 
tol." 

The duplicate charter was written on three skins and 
the original on two. The following note in reference 
to the latter appears in the third volume of the Colonial 
Records: In 1817 or 1818, while John Boyd, who was 
afterwards Secretary of State, was preparing for col- 
lege, at the Hartford Grammar School, he boarded in 
the family of Rev. Dr. Flint of the South Church. 



354 Wadsworth 

of their grateful resentment of such — his faithful 
and good services, grant him out of the Colony 
treasury the sum of twenty shillings." 

Coming in one day from school, he noticed on the 
workstand of Mrs. Bissell, the doctor's mother-in-law, 
a dingy piece of parchment covered on one side with 
black-letter manuscript. In answer to his inquiries, 
Mrs. Bissell told him that having occasion for some 
pasteboard, her friend and neighbor Mrs. Wyllys had 
sent her this. Mr. Boyd proposed to procure her a 
piece of pasteboard in exchange for the parchment, to 
which Mrs. Bissell consented. It was not, however, 
until six or eight years had elapsed that Mr. Boyd 
examined the parchment with care, when for the first 
time he learned what its contents were." This inci- 
dent recalls how the seared and yellow copy of the 
Magna Charta — now in the British Museum — was 
saved by chance from the scissors of a tailor. Struck 
by the great seals attached to a piece of parchment the 
tailor was cutting, Sir Robert Colton stopped the man 
and gave him fourpence for the document. It is now 
lined and mounted in a glass case, the seal a shapeless 
mass of wax and the characters illegible. 



THE MAN 



THE MAN 



There are no paintings or illustrations of any 
character of the founders of Connecticut. In all 
the other Colonies there are a few faces that have 
been handed down to posterity, while this solitary 
exception is also the only one which retained its' 
identity from the beginning of its government 
up to the present. The Charter granted by 
Charles 11. in 1662, as is well known, succeeded 
the Fundamental Orders and remained in force 
even under the aegis of the United States of 
America^ until 1818, when the present Constitu- 

* After the Declaration of Independence, at a General 
Assembly held in New Haven on the second Thursday 
of October, 1776, the following resolution was adopted: 
"Resolved by this Assembly: That they approve of the 
Declaration of Independence, published by said Con- 
gress, and that this Colony is and of right ought to be 
a free and independent State, and the inhabitants there- 
of are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and all political connections between them and the 
Kins? of Great Britain are, and ought to be, totally 
dissolved. And be it enacted by the Governor, Coun- 
cil and representatives in General Court assembled, and 
by authority of the same, that the form of civil govern- 
ment in this State shall continue to be as established 
by charter received from Charles II., King of England, 
so far as an adherence to the same will be consistent 
with an absolute independence of this State on the 
Crown of Great Britain, and that all ofificers, civil and 
military, heretofore appointed by this State continue in 
the execution of their several ofifices, and the laws of 
the State shall continue in force until otherwise 
ordered." 



358 Wadsworih 

tion was adopted. There is a painting of John 
Winthrop, Jr., from which thousands of prints 
have been made, while nothing but a legend and 
the record of a few of his acts remain of Captain 
Joseph Wadsworth, who "secured the Charter of 
the Colony in a very troublesome season," and 
who stands out boldly as the first genuine hero 
born in New England. From these acts, all of 
which have been gathered for this chapter, the 
reader can call up the rugged soldier in homespun 
who in his day tilled the soil of Connecticut, 
fought the Indians, risked his life in defense of 
the Colony's rights, defied a Colonial Governor 
and was finally in his old age admitted to the bar, 
where he was time and again called on to de- 
fend himself in suits which could be traced to his 
high temper and sledge hammer manner in set- 
tling disputes. 

Born in 1648, being the third child of William 
Wadsworth and his second wife Eliza Stone, 
Joseph Wadsworth became a freeman of the 
Colony October 12, 1676, by order of the General 
Court, his two brothers, Samuel and Thomas, be- 
ing admitted on the same date.^ The King Philip 

^At a Court of Election Held at Hartford, May 11: 
1676. Propownded for freemen; John Steele, Tho: 
Tompson, ]ohn Norton, Samll Lewes, John Howkins, 
Phillip JudTT^r- B'eTtcher, Lnt. Jos: Wadsworth, Samll 
Wadsworth, Tho: Wadsworth, Wm. Burnam, John 



The Man 359 

war was being waged when the three brothers 
were "propownded for freemen" and that Joseph 
was taking an active part in it is shown by the 
following orders of the Council : 

At a Meeting of the Councill, Held at Hartford, 
Septr. 6th, 1675. Wm. Leet Esq. Dep. Govr; Major 
John Tallcott, Mr. Henry Woolcott, Capt. John Allyn, 
Capt. Tho: Topping, Capt. Benj: Newbery, Mr. John 
Wadsworth. 

The Councill ordered that Sarjt. Joseph Wadsworth 
should take under his conduct twenty men, and pass 
up to Westfield, to assist them against the common 
cnemie, with this following comn: — 

To Joseph Wadsworth, Sarjt. 

In his Maties Name you are required to take under 
your conduct those dragoones now present, and lead 
them forth up to Westfeild, there to assist in the de- 
fending of the sayd Westfeild against the common 
enemie, and there to continue till you receiue further 
order from the Councill here, or are called forth to the 
army by Major Treat or some of the cheife command- 
ers of or army, Allso, in case you hear that any of 
or plantations are assaulted by the enemie, you are 
forthwith to post away to releiue the place or planta- 
tions assaulted; and in case you should be assaulted 
in the way, you are to use your utmost endeauor to 
defend yourselues and to destroy the enemie. 

This signed pr the Secretary. 

At a Meeting of the Council, at Hartford, Septr. 9, 
1675. Wm. Leete Esq. Dept. Govr; Major John Tall- 

Olcott, John Pantry, Jonath: Bull and Samll Olmsteed, 
Wm. Waller. — Colonial Records. 

At a Session of the Genii Court, October 12: 1676, in 
Hartford. Those formerly presented for freemen last 
Court, viz. Mr. Wadsworth three sons, Samll, Joseph 
& Tho:. and John Pantry, are admitted for freemen. — 
Colonial Records. 



360 Wadsworth 

cott, Mr. Henry Woolcott, Capt. John Allyn, Major 
Robt Treat, Capt. Benj: Newbery, Mr. John Wads- 
worth. 

Major Robt Treat being returned from the army, 
and informeing us that the Gentn from the Bay haue 
ordered that all their forces shall be called out of the 
feild, up the riuer, and their townes garrisoned as 
they may; and allso, that of those forces that went 
hence there is left about forty at Hatfeild, and some at 
Northampton, and some at Westfeild, are desired to be 
continued; the Councill doth grant that if it be desired, 
there be twenty-six left at Westfeild, under conduct of 
Ens: John Miles, and sixteen left at Springfeild, under 
conduct of Lnt John Standly; anf the rest both those 
that went with Sarjt Joseph Wadsworth and wth John 
Grant to return forthwith; and accordingly order was 
sent to Lnt John Standly and to Ens. John Miles. 

At a Meeting of the Council, January 14, 1676. 
Wm. Leet Esq. Dept. Govr; Mr. Samll Willys, Major 
Jno Tallcott, Mr. James Richards, Capt, John Allyn, 
Mr. Richd Lord. 

The Council appoynted John Standly Captaine of 
part of the forces belonging to Hartford County; and 
Joseph Wadsworth to be his Liuetenant. 

This apointment was no doubt made to fill one 
of the vacancies created by the loss which the 
Connecticut troops sustained in the Narragansett 
fort fight and in which Joseph Wadsworth in all 
probability participated. The following anecdote 
dates from the same period : 

Shortly after Joseph Wadsworth's return from 
an expedition to Farmington against the Indians, 
a man from Wethersfield, who was personally 
hostile to him, had occasion to call on Hezekiah 
Wyllys, the Secretary of Connecticut, The late 



TJie Man 363 

expedition to Farmington soon becoming a topic 
of conversation, this Welhersfield citizen took the 
opportunity to say that Wadsworth behaved like 
a coward in the affair. Shortly after this remark 
was uttered, Wadsworth himself happened also 
to call on Mr. Wyllys. He came in quietly, and 
Mr. Wyllys, with whom he was a great favorite, 
without appearing to notice his entrance, peered 
over his spectacles, and inquisitively addressing 
Wadsworth's accuser, repeated his remark. "So 
you said just now," he proceeded, "that Joseph 
Wadsworth behaved like a coward at Farming- 
ton?" The reviler turned pale at once — attempted 
to stammer out some apology — and began retreat- 
ing towards the door. The moment Wadsworth, 
however, became acquainted with the offensive 
charge — there on the spot — in the lower front 
west parlor of the Wyllys mansion, and in the 
dignified presence of Mr. Wyllys himself, who 
obviously anticipated some amusing result — he 
fell upon his accuser, and gave him a most severe, 
and exemplary whipping.^ 

During the next twenty years Joseph Wads- 

* This anecdote was told I. W. Stewart by Peter 
Thatcher. He had it from Stephen Mix Mitchell of 
Wethersfield, to whom it was communicated by George 
Wyllys, a son of Hezekiah Wyllys. It appears in one 
of the Stewart manuscripts owned by the Connecticut 
Historical Society and is published by permission. 



364 Wadsworth 

worth's name appears in the following entries in 
the Hartford Town Votes : 

Dec. 29, 1676. 

{Lieu. Joseph Wadsworth. 
Nathan Stanly. 
Seppren Nicols. 
Steven Hosmore. 

December 1679. 

TT^^ c„, „«,,«,.., / Lieu. Joseph Wadsworth. 
For Surveyors! ^^^^/^ Stanley. South Side. 

December 23. 1684. 
Townsmen o„ North Side { f °TpH^°^^<j3wonh" 

January 15, 1684-5. 

Att ye Same Meeting ye Towne made choyce of Mr. 
Sepren Nickeules, Lieu. Joseph Wadsworth & Insign 
Nathll Standly to bee Added to Mair Tallcott & Capt. 
Alyn As a Comitty for ye ScooU in Hartford. 

Hartford Town Votes, p. 214. 

December 24, 1685. 

Granted permission with Philip Lewis Liberty to 
build a warehouse next to Hartford landing place. 

February 28, 1689-90. Coll. John Allyn, Mr. Bar- 
tholomew Barnard/ Lieu. Joseph Wadsworth, and 
Capt. Caleb Stanly were chosen a committee to make 
up the fortyfications about Mr. Bartholomew Barnard's 
House. 

^ Bartholomew Barnard lived on Sentinel Hill. 
Joseph Wadsworth married his daughter Elizabeth, 
who was the mother of his children, Joseph, Jonathan, 
who died in infancy, Ichabod, Elizabeth, Hannah and 
Jonathan. After her death, which occurred October 
26, 1710, Joseph Wadsworth married Elizabeth Talcott, 
and upon her death he made his third venture by 
marrying Thomas Welles' widow Mary, whose maiden 
name was Blackleach. She survived him. 



The Man 365 

December i6, 1690. 



Townsmen for ensuing year ^J-^h" B*n'°" 



December 23, 1696. 



Joseph Wadsworth. 
Deacon Wils 
Joseph Bull. 
Jacob White. 



{Joseph Wadsworth, 
Ensign Sandford. 
Capt. Nichols. 
Henry Hayward. 

January 26, 1691-2. 

Approved of Caleb Stanly bearing 50 lbs. of Powder 
& 220 of lead for expedition to Deerfield & Albany. 

January 17, 1695-6. On Committee in behalfe of 
Town of Hartford with John AUyn, Caleb Stanly, Cep- 
rian Nickols, Joseph Bull. 

The interruption in the Government through 
the interference of Sir Edmund Andros occurred 
during this period, and while he retained it John 
Allyn, who was appointed a member of His Maj- 
esty's Council, wrote him as follows : "Sir, I allso 
make bold to inform your Excelency that if you 
please to make Lnt Joseph Wadsworth Lieuten- 
ant of the company of the North Side of or 
Towne & Mr. Niccols of the Sowth side, it will 
be most accomadating to the people as their habi- 
tations are settled." 

This is the only reference to Joseph Wads- 
worth in the Colonial Records from that time 
until he appeared at the meeting of the Governor 
and Council at Hartford on May 25, 1698, other 



366 Wadsworth 

than that he is named as a Deputy for Hartford 
in 1694 and 1695, his first services as a member 
of that body being rendered in 1685. 

Att a Meeting of the Governr and Councill in Hart- 
ford, May 25t, 1698 The duplicate of the Pattent by 
order from the Governr and Councill being brought 
by Captn Joseph Wadsworth, and he affirming that he 
had order from the Genrll Assembly to be the keeper 
of it, the Governr and Councill concluded that it should 
remain in his custodie till the Generall Assembly or the 
Councill should see cause to order otherwise, and the 
sd duplicate was deliverd to him by the order of the 
Councill. 

There is nothing in the records to show when 
the General Assembly made the doughty Captain 
the keeper of the duplicate charter, but if such an 
order had not been issued there were men at this 
meeting who could have objected to such an en- 
try, which again called attention to Wadsworth's 
exploits, and resulted in his re-election as a Dep- 
uty in 1699, after which he served on the follow- 
ing committees : 

A Generall Assembly Holden at Hartford, Octobr 
I2th, 1699. 

Mr. Will Pitkin, Captn John Chester, Mr. Nehemiah 
Palmer, Captn Thomas Hart, and Captn Joseph Wads- 
worth, or the majr part of them, are by this Assembly 
chosen a committee to take care of the countries in- 
terest in the undivided lands, and to indevour the pre- 
venting and detecting all illegal trading with the natives 
for land, and to implead such persons as have tres- 
passed upon the countries land by intrusion. 



The Man 367 

Att a Court of Election Holden at Hartford, May the 

9th, 1700. 
Whereas this Assembly did in October last did ap- 
point and impower William Pitkin Esqr, Captn Thomas 
Hart, Mr. Nehemiah Palmer, Captn John Chester, and 
Captn Joseph Wadsworth, or the majr part of them, 
a committee to enquire after all such persons as have 
entred upon any countrey lands without any just right 
derived from this Assembly; this assembly doth con- 
tinue the said comittee in that trust to proceed therein 
and to make their return to this Assembly in October 
next. 
Att a Court of Election Holden at Hartford, May the 

8th, 1701. 
This Assembly doth appoint and impower William 
Pitkin Esqr, Captn Thomas Hart, Nehemiah Palmer, 
Captn John Chester, Captn Joseph Wadsworth, and 
Sarjt Caleb Stanley, or any three of them to be a com- 
mittee in behalfe of this corporation to make diligent 
search and inquirie after all such persons as have 
made any unlawfuU entries upon any of the countries 
land, not having a just right thereunto by grant from 
this Assembly; especially after such persons as have 
made any unlawful! entries upon the lands situate in 
the northeast parts of this Colonie; to continue in that 
service during the Courts pleasure, and to make pre- 
sentment from time to time in this Assembly of all 
persons that they shall find guiltie of making such 
unlawful! entries and incroachments upon the countries 
lands as is beforementioned. 

In May, 1703, Captain Joseph Wadsworth was' 
again named as one of the Deputies for Hartford 
in the Lower House of the General Assembly, 



368 Wadsworth 

notwithstanding the fact that he had opposed 
the Constable of Hartford the preceding- Febru- 
ary when that important official was making- an 
effort to arrest a fugitive slave. He was also re- 
elected in 1704 and 1705. The following are the 
only entries concerning him in the records cov- 
ered by the three years and they show very 
plainly that the old warrior must have lost his 
temper while pleading Phillip Pain's case and that 
he made amply apology for his misbehaviour 
after the smoke of battle had blown away : 

Att a Genrll Assembly Holden att New Haven Octo- 
ber the 14th, 1703, and Continued by Adjournment to 
the End of the 22d Day of the same Month. 

Capt. Joseph Wadsworth appeaing in this Assembly 
in the behalfe of Mr. Phillip Pain who complained 
against Wiliam Pitkin Esqr, Assistant, for male-ad- 
ministration in his proceeding against said Pain for 
forcible deteiner, in ye debate upon which case the 
said Joseph Wadsworth used reproachful words against 
Mr. Pitkin and the sentence by him passed upon said 
Pain, saying in open Assembly that his proceedings 
in the case were altogether unjust and illegall, and also 
did cast forth reproachfull expressions against divers 
members of the Assembly, for which his misbehaviour 
this Assembly by force of the lawe title Magistrates, 
doe sentence the said Wadsworth to pay a fine of ten 
pounds to the publick Ireasurie of the Colonic. 

At a Generall Assembly Holden at Newhaven Octo- 
ber the I2th, 1704, and Continued by Adjournments to 
the 24th day of the Same Month. 



The Man 369 

This Court upon the request of Capt. Joseph Wads- 
worth doe remit a fine of ten pounds ladi upon him 
by the Generall Court in October last, he havin?? made 
reflexions upon himselfe. 

After acting as one of the Selectmen for the 
town of Hartford in 1706 Captain Wadsworth 
again dropped out of sight until May 2"^, when at 
a meeting of the Court of Assistants, which at 
this time corresponded in most respects with the 
present Supreme Court of Connecticut, the fol- 
lowing became part of the record. 

"Capt. Joseph Wadsworth of Hartford was arrested 
and brought before this Court to answer for that on 
the 27th of May, 1708, in the forenoon, he, the said 
Wadsworth, being in the gallery of the Meetinghouse 
in Hartford, under the Court Chamber where the 
Governor and Council were sitting, and in discourse 
with Mr. Ichabod Wells Sheriff of the County of Hart- 
ford, did say to him the said Sheriff, "if you come to 
me, and I tender you estate and you will not take it, 
but take any other of my estate, I will break your 
head, or knock you down." 

"And the said Joseph Wadsworth being then imme- 
diately summoned before the Governor and Council, 
and questioned for his so speaking, he answered and 
said that the words he said to the Sheriff were if any 
Officer should come to him, and he should tender him 
estate enough, and the Officer would notwithstanding 
wreck his Estate, he would knock him down. 

"Which threatening speeches are unlawful and a 
breach of the peace. And now the sd Joseph was ex- 
amined and convict thereof by his own confession. 



370 Wadsworth 

"This Court have considered the case, and do order 
and sentence the said Joseph Wadsworth to stand com- 
mitted until he shall find surety to be bound with him 
before this Court in a Recognisance of twenty pounds 
lawful money, conditioned for his peaceable and good 
behaviour towards all her Majesties subjects, and 
especially her Officers, until the next session of this 
Court to be held at Newhaven in October next ensuing. 

"The said Joseph Wadsworth and also Thomas 
Wadsworth of Hartford before this Court acknowl- 
edged themselves to stand jointly and severally bound 
to the Public Treasurer of this Colony in a Recog- 
nisance of twenty pounds lawful money of the same, to 
be levied on their goods, chattels or lands. 

"The condition whereof is that the said Joseph 
Wadsworth shall be of peaceable and good behaviour 
towards all her Majesty's subjects, and especially her 
officer, until the next Session of this Court, to be 
holden at Newhaven in October next." 

In 1712, Captain Joseph Wadsworth at the ripe 
age of sixty-four, became a member of the legal 
fraternity, but as to what cases he won or lost in 
this new field of contention the records of the 
Colony are silent and nothing more is said con- 
cerning him until his temper boiled over during 
the May session of the General Assembl}^ in 1715. 
The following from the record shows what hap- 
pened on that occasion : 

Capt. Joseph Wadsworth being brought to the bar of 
the Assembly, to be examined upon the discourse he 
made May 17th, in the Assembly of both Houses, being 
publick upon the hearing of petitions, which was re- 



The Man 371 

sented as of a seditious nature and tendency, as declar- 
ing against the validity of the acts of this Assembly 
which were passed by the Houses separate, for their 
inconsistency with our charter, and behaving himself 
with due submission declared, that he thought what 
he said had not such an aspect, and that he was far 
from intending to insinuate any such matter; but if 
through inadvertency his words had such a tendency, 
he readily acknowledged his offense and concern that 
what he had spoken had given any offence to the 
Assembly, whose constitution and proceedings he had 
no intention to reflect upon: Resolved thereupon, that 
the said Capt. Wadsworth acknowledge and consent to 
the following confession, viz: 

I do sincerely profess that in my discourse yester- 
day, in the hearing of both Houses when the Assembly 
was publick, (and upon the hearing of a petition,) re- 
lating to the constitution and power of this Assembly, 
as to the manner of their passing of acts according to 
our charter, I had no design to reflect upon or expose 
the proceedings of the Houses of the said Assembly in 
their passing of their acts separately. H what I said 
had any tendency thereunto, it was more than I in- 
tended or perceived; and I am heartily sorry that what 
I said was of any such tendency as to give offence to 
this Assembly, for which, as for the charter, I had a 
great regard and honour. 

Resolved. That this acknowledgment shall be read 
in the hearing of both Houses, the doors being open, 
and that after the reading thereof, the said Capt. Wads- 
worth publickly own the same, and a proper admo- 
nition (be) given him, and thereupon his offence 
passed by. 

The confession above was accordingly read in the 



372 Wadsworih 

hearing of both Houses and acknowledged by the said 
Wadsworth, and an admonition given him upon the 
same by the Honble the Governour.* 

Further on in the proceedings of this session 
those who consult the Colonial Records will find 
a paragraph which fixes beyond a doubt the name 
of the man who secured and preserved the Char- 
ter when Andros visited Hartford, while the ac- 
tion taken by the Upper House in connection 
with the payment for "faithful and good serv- 
ices" shows that its members were still smarting 
under the remarks of the turbulent old warrior or 
that they did not consider the admonition of 
Governor Saltonstall severe enough. The follow- 
ing is the entry referred to and a few of the notes 
printed in connection with it in the fifth volume 
of the Colonial Records: 

Upon consideration of the faithful and good service 
of Capt. Joseph Wadsworth, of Hartford, especially 
in securing the Duplicate Charter, of this Colony in a 
very troublesome season when our constitution was 
struck at, and in safely keeping and preserving the 
same ever since unto this day: This Assembly do, as 
a token of their grateful resentment of such his faith- 
ful and good service, grant him out of the Colony 
treasury the sum of twenty shillings. 

'The bill to bring Capt. Wadsworth to the bar, for 
his disorderly and mutinous speeches, originated in the 
Upper House. It was at first negatived in the Lower 
House, but after a conference of the two houses con- 
curred with. The journal of the Lower House informs 
us that the admonition was a gentle one. 



TTTTI-^^ 



- >~t ■, 




'iVA-- jM: . -V :fe. 'y- 



•■• -v-^ ' 



The Man 375 

This bill originated in the Lower House, and, as 
at first passed there, gave Capt. Wadsworth four 
pounds: the Upper House negatived it: a committee 
of conference was appointed, consisting of Mathew 
Allyn, Roger Wolcott, and John Clark; and both houses 
agreed to give the sum named in the text. Finance & 
Currency, I. 82. 

Forty four years afterwards, Roger Wolcott wrote, 
for President Clap, a Memoir relating to Connecticut, 
dated July 12th, 1759. He says in it, "In October, 1687, 
Sir Edmund Andros came to Hartford. The assembly 
met and sat late at night. They ordered the charters 
to be set on the table, and unhappily, or happily, all 
the candles were snuffed out at once, and when they 
were lighted, the charters were gone. And now. Sir 
Edmund being in town and the charters gone, the 
secretary closed the Colony records with the word 
Finis, and all departed." 

In 1764, Roger Wolcott gave President Stiles this 
story, as the latter records it in his Itinerary, II. 105, 
now in Yale College Library, "Nath. Stanly, father 
of late Col. Stanly, took one of the Connecticut char- 
ters, and Mr. Talcott, late Gov. Talcott's father, took 
the other, from Sir Edmund Andros in Hartford meet- 
ing house, — the lights blown out." 

Cyprian Nichols and Ebenezer Johnson, who were 
members at the sesion of May, 1715, were also mem- 
bers of the Assembly in June, 1687, when sundry of 
the Court desired that the patent or charter might be 
brought into the court, which the record leaves in the 
box on the table, at the adjournment, and with the 
key in the box, at which time, perhaps, the original 
charter was taken by Messrs. Stanly and Talcott and 
concealed, it may be, by Mr, Leete. Messrs. Nichols 



376 Wadswor0t 

and Johnson were also members on the 31st of Octo- 
ber, 1687, when Sir Edmund Andros assumed the 
government, and the incident of extinguishing the 
lights occurred, and the duplicate charter was secured 
by Capt. Wadsworth. 

After this incident, Captain Wadsworth's 
name disappeared from the Colonial Records un- 
til 1721, when a son of Benjamin Munn filed the 
following afifidavits in support of a petition for a 
grant of land : 

"These may informe ye Honoured General Courte 
that my Hon'rd Father having been a first planter of 
Hartford, I in my youth, who are now 74 years old, 
did often here my said Father say that those Lots 
called the Soldier's Field^ were lots granted to ye 
Pequoit Soldiers only, and that for their good service 
in said War. Joseph Wadsworth." 

"I Thomas Burr of Hartford aged 75 years, testify 
as above written, that I heard my Father say as afore- 
said, and allso remember said Mun when he lived in 
Hartford and often heard my Father and other Pequot 
soldiers say that said Mun was a soldier in said war 
with them. Thomas Burr." 

The following reference to Captain Wadsworth 
also appears in the Hartford Town Votes: 

^ Soldier's Field contained about fifteen acres on the 
west side of the North Meadow creek. The lots were 
chiefly a quarter of an acre each and were granted to 
soldiers engaged in Indian wars. There is a tradition 
that it was once an Indian camp ground. The original 
owners all lived on the north side and were few or 
none of the original proprietors of the town. 



The Man 377 

Town Meeting. Dec. 20, 1720. 
Voted that Captain Joseph Wadsworth, Captain Aaron 
Cook and Lieutenant John Moakim be a Commit- 
tee to prosecute in Law (in behalf of this Town) and 
to Eject those that hold and Improve the Lands on 
the Town Comon on the East Side of the Great River 
in Hartford without Liberty of the Town and to Im- 
prove Councill in this Law for that out of the Charges 
of this Town. 

Town Meeting Dec. 25, 1722. Voted That Capt. John 
Spalding, Sargt. John Skinner be a Comittee to at- 
tend Capt. Jos. Wadsworth when he shall them desire 
with a Surveyoy to Lay out and make up the Comple- 
ment of his Lott upon the Comon bounded North on 
Symsbury Road^ — according to the agreement and 
records of this Town. 

The record of Captain Wadsworth's public 
services closes with a meeting of the Governor 
and Council at Hartford Aug. 16, 1726. The fol- 
lowing is a report of the proceedings : 

Present. Hon. Joseph Talcott, Gov. 
Roger Wolcott, Assistant. 
David Goodrich, Justice of Peace. 
Ozias Pitkin, Justice of Peace. 
Captain Joseph Wadsworth. 
Robert Sanford. 

^This is the lot referred to in the following memo- 
randum which was found in the box at the Wadsworth 
Inn: Land in Hartford upon Connoiticutt belonging 
to Lt. Joseph Wadsworth and his heirs for ever. One 
parcel of upland which he exchanged with the Town 
for land in the ox pasture and leads on to the West 
Side of the North Branch of the Mill River near the 
road that goeth or leadeth to Symsbury containing 
fifty four acres recorded Feb. 11, 1686. 

A True Copy of Record. 
Exam Hz. Wyllys, Register. 

(Hezekiah Wyllys was Town Clerk from 1705 to 
1732.) 



378 Wadsworth 

A petition signed by Nathaniel Stanly, Hezekiah 
Wyllys, Joseph Bigelow and other proprietors of cer- 
tain wet lands lying in the property described in said 
petition praying that a commission of sewers may be 
granted for draining said wet lands was read and voted 
that a commission of sewers be thereupon granted. 

Voted that Messrs. Thomas Seymour, John Whiting 
and Zoe Seymour of Hartford or any two of them be 
commissioners and that his Honor the Governor give 
them commission accordingly. 

Captain Joseph Wadsworth according to Sav- 
age died in 1730. He is supposed to have been 
buried in the cemetery corner of Main and Gold 
Streets, Hartford, but there is no gravestone to 
his memory. 

"Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; 
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 
"Some village Hampden that with dauntless breast 
The little tyrant of his fields withstood, 
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest. 

Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood." 

His will was approved and recorded March 2, 
1730-1. The following is a copy of it: 

"I, Joseph Wadsworth, being sick and weake of 
bodie, tho' sound in my understanding and memory, 
calling to mind my mortality, that I may settle the 
estate God has been pleased to bestow upon me, I do 
make and ordain these to be my last Will and Testa- 
ment — Imprimis I give my soul to God that gave it, in 



The Man 379 

hope of mercy only through the merits, mediation and 
intercession of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and 
my body to a Christian buriall at the discretion of my 
Executor — and as to my worldly goods I dispose of 
them as followeth — first my Will is that all my just 
debts and funeral charges shall be duly paid, and hav- 
ing given a Joynture in full satisfaction to my loving 
wife Mary, I proceed to bequeath my estate to my 
Children — and do give to my son Joseph the upper 
neck lot of land where his dwelling house stands, the 
whole of it, with all the buildings, orchards, privileges 
and appurtenances belonging, to him and his heires. 
forever — also I do give to my son Joseph and his heires 
forever my upper Lot in the Long Meadow, and the 
five acre lot that I bought of Capt. Nathan Gold — and 
the four acres of land at brother Tallcotts uper lot, 
which I have by agreement with Brother Tallcott — 
and I do also give to my son Joseph all my land in 
Coventry — this I give to him beside what he hath 
formerly had and enjoyed or improved of my estate. 

— Item. I do give unto my son Jonathan and his 
heires forever, the woodlot buting East on the Road 
to Windsor, with all the buildings thereupon standing, 
with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto be- 
longing — also I do give him my Neck Lot of land 
lying over against the foresaid Woodlot, buting West 
on the Road leading to Windsor, that was bought of 
Thomas Thomlinson — also I do give him the Lot of 
Land which the half way tree stands on in the Long 
Meadow — these, with what I have formerly given him, 
or that he had posest and enjoyed that was my estate, 
I do give to him and his heires forever. 

— Item. I do give to my son Ichabod to the Lower 
house lot so called that buteth West on the highway, 



380 Wadsworth 

north on Joseph Barnards land, and with the Mansion 
house, Barn, and all the privileges and appurtenances 
thereunto belonging or any way appertaining — also my 
lot of land of foure acres in the South Meadow — also 
six acres of land in the Souldiers Field, bounding south 
on the Richard Goodman land, &c. — also I do give to 
him my three-acre Lot nigh the lower end of sd. 
Meadow — all of which I do give to him and his heires 
forever, together with whatsoever he hath already 
poscst and enjoyed — also I do give him my Woodlot of 
sixty acres lying on the West side the Mill River, nigh 
the road leading to Symsbury, — and I order Ichabod to 
pay to Jonathan forty shillings yearly so long as my 
wife continues my widow, and my Will is that if I die 
before my present Wife, that my sons aforenamed do 
allow to her the improvement of all such lands as by 
Joynture I have given her to use, according to the true 
intent of sd Instrument, without any let or hindrance 
whatsoever — 

— Item. I do give to my three grandchildren, chil- 
dren of my daughter Elizabeth Marsh, viz: Jonathan 
Marsh, Joseph Marsh and Elisabeth Marsh ten pounds, 
to be paid to them as they come to Lawful age, each of 
them three pounds six shillings and eightpence, to be 
paid to them by my three sons Joseph, Jonathan and 
Ichabod, their heires, executors or administrators, in 
equal parts — and this I give to them beside what I gave 
their Mother, and what she hath had of my estate 
formerly — 

— Item. I do give unto my daughter Hannah Cook 
ten pounds, beside what she hath formerly had of my 
estate, which ten pounds shall also be paid to her or her 
heires by my three sons Joseph, Jonathan and Ichabod, 
in equal parts, within one yeare after my Decease — 



The Man 381 

And I so appoint my son Joseph Wadsworth to be my 
Executor to this my last Will — and I do hereby revoke 
all other and former Wills or Will by me made, and do 
declare this only to be my last Will — In Testimony 
whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Scale this 
sixth day of July, in the yeare of our Lord one thou- 
sand and seven hundred and twenty three. 

Signed, sealed and declared to be my last Will in the 
presence of 

Joseph Talcott. Joseph Wadsworth," a Scale. 

Joseph Farnsworth. March 2, 1730-1, proved 

Mary Farnsworth. and recorded; 

The following is a copy of the inventory of his 
estate filed in the Probate office at Hartford: 

March 24, 1730. An inventory of the Estate of Cap- 
tain Joseph Wadsworth of Hartford Deceased. 

£ s. d. 
I Cow and Calf £7 i Old Mare £2 900 

I Cross Cut Saw and handsaw 15 s. part of 

two Great Bibles 18 s. i 13 o 

A Corsey coat £3 a Corsey woscoat £1 2S. 6d. 

I old plain cloth coat 12 s. 4 14 6 

I pr black Drugit breeches £1 3 s. i old 

Great Coat 8 s. 2 Woolen Shirts 8 s. i 19 o 

I pr black Woosted stockin 5 s. 2 pr old 

stockins 4 s. i old Woscoat & 2 pr 

breeches 9 s. 6 d. o 18 6 

1 hat 15 s. Woolen shirt £1. l pr shoes 

2s. I pr gloves 3 s. 6 d. 2 Muflin Neck- 
cloth 3 s. 236 

2 Knives i s. Tobacco box is. a pr of 

spectacles 18 d. 2 great chairs 3 s. a 
small chair is. 076 

I iron pot 9 d. 2 old barrels 3 d. by Bills 

of credit £1 19 s. 6 d. 2 11 6 



382 Wadsworth 

Nine pounds interest in the old mill 900 

By six ounces and a quarter of Silver 

By note of Gillet Addams 

In the Long Meadow four acres at the Gov'rs 

Lot 40 o 

2 lots twenty acres £200 third lot five acres 

£50 250 o o 

Fourth lot twenty acres £120. upland five 

acres £30 150 o o 

More upland fifty four acres £108 one acre 

in the Long Meadow £6 114 o o 

More by three acres £30 five acres in the Sol- 
dier's Field £50 80 o o 

Four acres in the South Meadow £40 Icha- 

bods house lot ten acres £100 140 o o 

Fifty four acres in the woods 162 o o 

This above aprisement was made by us 
the subscribers 



Nathaniel Marsh 
John Cook. 



Added in Court 
by a bond from 
Benjamin Burr 
of £15 16 s. 
whereof £6 yd. 
is received by 
ye aforesaid Joseph 
Wadsworth Dec. 



THE TREE 



THE TREE 



Residents of Hartford whose memories run 
back to the forties or early fifties of the last cen- 
tury, recall the hollow oak standing at the foot of 
a lawn sloping down from a house which still re- 
tained the general form of the one that was built 
in 1637, by William Gibbons for George Wyllys, 
the first English owner of the hillside. One of 
these when speaking of the tree, turned to the 
family Bible within which a leaf of the Charter 
Oak was still preserved, and which is now kept 
not so much as a memento of the oak as of the 
mother who placed it there the day that the old 
monarch fell. Another, who has in his day en- 
joyed the highest honors that the State can con- 
fer upon a favorite son, enthusiastically tells how 
as a boy he frequently had his head in the hole 
where the charter was hid, while a venerable lady 
still speaks of a birthday at which she presided 
in the hollow tree. 

The following description of the Charter Oak 
and the scenes connected with its fall are taken 
from the Stewart manuscript already referred to : 

"At ten minutes before one o'clock, in the morning 
of the twenty first of August, 1856; and just eight and 



386 Wadsworth 

thirty years after the old Charter itself has passed 
away — passed away also that Tree with which it was 
associated — each yielding at last, and after a good old 
age, to Natures law. Beneath a wild midnight sky, 
from whose dense mass, the moon was slowly emerg- 
ing, and when the wind, which had been long violent, 
and rough with the falling rain, had suddenly veered 
from the south and east to the northwest, and risen, 
to the pitch almost of a hurricane, the oak was struck 
by a terrific gust and its trunk, now reduced to a mere 
shell of a few inches, yielded at last. With a rustling 
of the foliage that was unusual, and a sharp, crackling 
sound it broke in twain about six feet from the base — 
at a point where a horizontal fissure, of some three or 
four feet in length, had within a few weeks slowly 
opened, and parted the trunk to a width of from one to 
three inches. For an instant reeling convulsively in the 
air — as witnessed by city watchman who stood within 
two hundred feet of it at the time — then swaying to 
and fro, as if looking, 'like Caesar, after he received 
his death-blow, for a place upon which to fall with 
dignity' — the old veteran bowed majestically, in its 
full mantle of green, to the fury of the blast. 

"Strange was the thought which at once forced itself 
upon my mind, on looking, as I did immediately, at 
the mighty ruin — that with a shell so thin, it should 
have stood erect so long and support its huge weight 
of branches. And how strange, too, that, with this 
trunk sapless and spongy upon a great portion of its 
northern side — and drawing sustenance, almost exclu- 
sively, from its southern and eastern exterior — and 
there were many interruptions from loss of bark and 
to an extent only of about half the circumference of 
the tree — it should yet have been capable of nourishing 



The Tree 389 

so long, and in such remarkable vigor, its massive 
boughs and heavy foliage, while it had sent forth even 
during the last spring and summer of its life hundreds 
of fresh twigs, many of them a foot in length, and 
scores of acorns, new, plump and beautiful. 

"But for years, it may be mentioned in this connec- 
tion, as proprietarj' guardian of the Tree, I had taken 
the best possible care of it, occasionally removing 
some of its dead and superfluous matter — and from 
time to time, as I discovered any orifices either in its 
trunk or branches, caused them to be carefully cov- 
ered over with tin or zinc, for the purpose of exclud- 
ing rain, or snow, or wasting elements of any kind. 
Upon one memorable occasion, for example, in 1852, 
when the Tree was accidentally fired by a torpedo 
thrown in by some thoughtless boys, not from the mo- 
tive of wanton mischief, but for the purpose simply 
of hearing a Chinese cracker explode in so noted a 
receptacle, there was an opportunity afforded for mak- 
ing extensive repairs. In order to extinguish the 
flames — which, mingled with volumes of smoke, poured 
out of a large opening high in one of the crotches of 
the tree — and which, for a long time baffled the eflforts 
of the firemen, who to a man, with patriotic zeal, 
rushed to save the old 'Defender of their Liberty' — it 
became necessary to cut a hole in the trunk large 
enough to permit one of the men, hose in hand, to 
work his way into the interior of the tree — a feat 
which was accomplished, and which led to the speedy 
extinguishing of the fire. 

"The thorough cleaning to which I then subjected 
the interior by removing the spongy wood, and decayed 
vegetable matter, resulted in a remarkable renovation 
of the old oak. It put forth, fresher and fuller foliage, 



890 Wadsworth 

than it had done before for many years — bore more 
acorns — and down to but a short period before its fall, 
appeared as hale, as stalwart, and as storm-defying as 
ever. At this time the hollow in the tree was so large 
that a fire company of twenty-seven men stood up in it 
together. During this new phase of its life a swarm 
of honey bees — whose presence in the tree was un- 
known until after it fell — settled in a spacious gap in 
one of its crotches — about twenty feet from the ground. 
Disturbed for a moment, after the tree had fallen, by 
a stick thrust carelessly into their midst by some curi- 
ous boys, they suddenly poured out f^om their illus- 
trious dwelling-place, and lodged upon a young maple, 
which stood a few feet distant from the Oak, and upon 
the opposite side of the street. But almost immediately 
swarming again, they returned to their old quarters in 
the Tree and from thence were securely hived by Louis 
Wessing. They were removed to a cheerful spot in 
close proximity to my dwelling and are known and 
cherished under their new title of Charter Oak Bees. 
"The fall of the Oak roused the patriotic sentiments 
of Hartford. The old and young visited the hillside 
on which it stood for so many years and hundreds 
urged the erection of a monument upon the place to 
commemorate alike the Charter, the Tree, and the 
Hero who rendered it so conspicuous. At noon — a 
band of musicians from the Colt Armory poured forth 
touching harmonies over the fallen patriarch — first, in 
solemn dirge the 'Dead March in Saul' — then 'Home, 
Sweet Home;' and then the national march and anthem 
of 'Hail Columbia.' At sundown the bells all over the 
city of Hartford were tolled as a signal mark of re- 
spect for the old Defender of Connecticut Liberty in 
an heroic age of colonial history — a respect which was 



The Tree 391 

heightened and deepened soon, by the display upon its 
stump and trunk of two Flags of the union, draped 
appropriately in the emblems of mourning. Sad, af- 
fecting tokens these were indeed of the universal feel- 
ing that 'one of the most sacred links which bind these 
modern days to the irrevocable past, had been sud- 
denly sundered.' " 

A daughter of Secretary Wyllys,^ writing from 
Hartford to Dr. Holmes, author of the American 
Annals, published in 1805, made the following 
reference to it : 

"The venerable tree, which concealed the Charter, 
stands at the foot of Wyllys Hill. The first inhabitant 
of that name found it standing in the height of its 
glory. Age seems to have curtailed its branches, yet 
it is not exceeded in the heighth of its coloring, or 
richness of its foliage. The cavity which was the 
asylum of our Charter, was near the roots and large 
enough to admit a child. Within the space of eight 
years that cavity has closed, as if it had fulfilled the 
divine purpose for which it had been reared." 

* Mrs. Anstes Lee, of Wickford, Rhode Island, de- 
scribing in a letter a visit which she made to Hartford 
on Election Day, 1791, states the fact that the next 
day she took tea at Colonel Wyllys' with President 
Stiles of Yale College and other distinguished indi- 
viduals, and says: "We all went out after tea to see 
the Charter Oak, and stood under it. I felt anxious 
to stand under the celebrated old tree, where the old 
colony charter was hid by the ancestor of the present 
occupant. President Stiles gave us (we standing 
around him) a minute and detailed account of all the 
transactions of its seizure and concealment. His man- 
ner was very eloquent, and the narrative was precise 
and particular, and it made a deep impression on me." 

\ 



392 Wadsworfh 

Among the Charter Oak traditions preserved 
in Hartford is one that represents the Connecti- 
cut river as having, at a very ancient period, ex- 
panded in the form of a lake up to its roots and 
that the Indians tied their canoes to its trunk. 
Another tradition preserved in the "Old Colony- 
Memorial" states that during the settlement of 
Hartford, when William Gibbons was felling the 
trees' on the Wyllys lot, the Indians who were 
hutted near him below the hill, begged that he 
spare that tree, as it indicated the proper season 
for planting their corn. It was their rule, the In- 
dians said, to plant the corn when the leaf of the 
oak was as large as a mouse's ear. This incident 
has been commemorated by Mrs. L. H. Sigour- 
ney in the following "Intercession of the Indians 
for the Charter Oak of Connecticut." 

Oh! not upon that mossy trunk 

Let the dire axe descend, 
Nor wreck its canopy of shade, 

So long the red man's friend, — 
Nor to the cold, unpitying winds 

Those bannered branches give, — 
Smite down the forest, if ye will — 

But let its monarch live! 

For far away, in olden time, 
When here the red deer flew, — 

And with his branching antlers swept 
In showers, the morning dew, — 



The Tree 393 

Up, like a solemn seer it rose, 

By hoary years unbent, 
Marking the seed-time, and the frost 

Which the Great Spirit sent. 

I'he planter watched its tender leaf, 

By vernal skies unrolled, 
Before his golden corn he placed 

Within the investing mould, — 
And tho' our fallen fathers sleep. 

Beneath their mounds of clay, 
To us, it speaks their words of yore, — 

Shred not its boughs away. 

And so, the white men spared the tree 

The Indian's prayer to bless. 
Not dreaming that its giant arms 

Would aid their own distress, — 
Not dreaming that its grateful breast 

Responsive to their sigh. 
Would like a nursing mother shield 

Their germ of liberty. 

But when the tyrant Stuart fled 

And left the British throne, 
And stern Sir Edmund Andros found 

His brief dominion gone. 
Out laughed the Oak and o'er its leaves 

A shivering rapture crept. 
To tell the secret, that so close 

Full many a month was kept. 

Out laughed that hoary Oak, and op'd 

Its bosom's secret cell. 
And brought the entrusted treasure forth 

Which it had guarded well, — 



394 Wadsworth 

Not like that pale, perfidious king 
Whose soul with pain was wrung, 

To give the Magna Charta birth 
When England's laws were young, — 

But like a brave, true-hearted friend 

Who loves a noble deed, 
And closest clings to those he serves 

In their darkest hour of need; 
For this, may circling centuries bid 

Its veins with vigour swell, 
And on its praise, our unborn sons 

Like us delight to dwell. 

Mrs. Sigourney also wrote the following the 
day after the tree fell : 

Woe, — for the mighty Tree! — 

The monarch of the plain, — 
The storm hath reft its noble heart, 

It ne'er shall tower again: — 
In ruins far and wide 

Its giant limbs are laid, — 
Like some strong dynasty of earth 

Whose nod the nations sway'd. — 

Woe, — for the ancient Oak! — 

Our pilgrim-father's pride, — 
That shook the centuries from its crown, 

And flourished when they died; — 
The grass flower at its feet. 

Shall quickening Spring restore, — 
But healthful dews, or nesting bird 

Revisit it no more. — 



The Tree 395 



The roaming Indian prized 

Its canopy of shade, — 
And bless'd it while his council-fire 

In eddying volumes play'd; — 
He, for its wisdom sought. 

As to a Delphic shrine, — 
He ask'd it when to plant his corn, 

And waited for the sign. — 

Yon white-haired man sits down 

Where its torn branches lie, 
And tells the listening boy the tale 

Of threatened Liberty, — 
How tyrant pomp and power 

Once in the olden time, 
Came Brennus-like, with iron tramp 

To crush this infant clime. 

And how that brave old Oak 

Stood forth a friend indeed, 
And spread its Egis o'er our sires 

In their extremest need, 
And in its sacred breast 

Their germ of Freedom bore, 
And hid their life-blood in its veins 

Until the blast was o'er. — 

Throngs gathering round the spot. 

Their mornful memories weave, 
Even children in strange silence stand. 

Unconscious why they grieve, 
Or for their casket seek 

Some relic spray to glean, — 
Acorn, or precious leaf to press 

rheir Bible leaves between. 



396 Wadsworth 

Was there no other prey, 

Oh Storm! — that thunder'd by? — 
Wreaking thy vengeance 'neath the shroud 

Of a wild, midnight sky? — 
Was there no kingly Elm, 

Majestic, broad and free, 
That thou must thus in madness smite 

Our tutelary tree? — 

Our beacon of the past, — 

Our Chronicle of time, — 
Our Mecca, — to whose greenwood glade 

Come feet from every clime? — 
Hark! — to the echoing dirge. 

In measures deep and slow, — 
While on the breeze our banner floats, 

Draped in the weeds of woe. 

The fair ones of our Vale, 

O'er its fallen Guardian sigh, — 
And Elders, with prophetic thought, 

Dark auguries descry; — 
Patriots and Sages deign 

O'er the loved wreck to bend, — 
And in the funeral of the Oak 

Lament their Country's friend. 

George D. Prentice also added these lines to 
the scanty store of Charter Oak literature : 

"Tree of the olden Time! A thousand storms 
Have hurried through thy branches — centuries 
Have set their signets on thy trunk, and gone 
In silence o'er thee, like the moonlight mists, 
That move at evening o'er the battlements 



The Tree 397 

Of the eternal mountain — and yet thou 

Shakest thy naked banner in the Heavens 

As proudly still as when great Freedom first 

Stamped thee with deathless glory. Monument 

Of Nations perished! Since thy form first sprang 

From its green throne of forest, many a deep 

And burning tide of human tears has flowed 

Down to the Ocean of the past — until 

Its very wave is bitterness — but thou 

Art reckless still. No heart has ever throbbed 

Beneath thy silent breast — and though thy sighs 

Have mingled with the night storm, they were not 

The requiem of the nations that have gone 

Down to the dust, like thy own withered leaves 

Swept by the autumn tempests. Ay, "bloom on," 

Tree of the cloud and glen — gird on thy strength — 

Yet there shall come a time when thou shalt sleep 

Upon thy own hill court. The marshalled storms 

Shall seek but find thee not — and the proud clime 

That long has been the consecrated home 

Of liberty and thee, shall lie so erst 

In silent desolation. Not a sound 

Shall rise from all its confines, save the moan 

Of passing winds, the cloud's low tone of fear, 

The roar of stormy waters, and the deep 

And fearful murmuring of the Earthquake's voice." 

When the time came for the old oak to sleep 
upon its "own hill court" he also contributed the 
following to the columns of the Louisville Jour- 
nal : 

"The telegraph has apprised the nation of the fall 
of this celebrated tree. Its history, and especially the 



398 Wadsworih 

incident which consecrated it in the annals of freedom, 
are familiar to every school boy. Its legend has struck 
root into the national heart, and will flourish there in 
fadeless verdure. In New England, upon whose stor- 
ied turf it now lies outstretched, the Charter Oak has 
been a household word, for more than a century and a 
half, and is buried, like a trilling bird in the bosom of 
its glorious foliage deep in the earliest and sweetest 
recollections of every child of the pilgrim land. For 
nearly two hundred years, the Charter Oak has been 
the sacred trysting place of patriotism, to the sons and 
daughters of New England, and not the trysting place 
of patriotism alone. Its fall has crushed along with 
numerous lofty reminiscences, a thousand gentler mem- 
ories that were hidden amidst its rich and silken leaves, 
like the sunbeams. 

"We vividly remember the emotion with which we 
revisited the Charter Oak, less than a year ago. While 
a resident of Hartford, in former days, the Oak was 
one of our favorite haunts. It seemed to us, at that 
period, truly a tree of magic, and as we stood, a few 
short months ago, by its dying trunk for the last time, 
and looked up from the treasured memories of youth, 
into its old, luxuriant, laughing wealth of foliage, it 
seemed a tree of magic still. The early fascination of 
the spot came back upon us with overpowering energy. 
Time had but enriched its wondrous enchantment. It 
was touched with an unearthly charm. Beyond its 
grand historic spell, and over all its lighter witchery, it 
seemed steeped, to its leafy summit, in that sad, un- 
definable softness, which Wordsworth calls — 

"The grace of forest charms decayed. 
And pastoral melancholy." 



The Tree 399 

It was as if all the pure, and lovely, and beautiful 
thoughts it had ever sheltered or suggested, had 
thronged around it, and were shedding their veiled 
light in silence upon it exhaling life. It was the breath 
of death, perfumed with holiness and beauty. It was 
the euthanasy of a material thing. No other mere in- 
animate object ever exercised so profound and vital a 
charm upon our nature. We left its hallowed presence, 
with a heart brimming with tears, and have never 
looked upon it since, and can never look upon it again. 

"It had fulfilled its mission. The princely tree, like 
the illustrious patriots who grew up and achieved their 
deathless names in its shadow, has fallen in the fullness 
of years, and a nation's grateful benediction. May the 
nation be perpetual!" 



One night, my children, from the North 

There came a furious blast; 
At break of day I ventured forth, 

And near the cliff I pass'd. 
The storm had fall'n on the Oak 

And struck him with a mighty stroke. 
And whirl'd, and whirl'd him far away. 

— Wordsworth. 



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